LOS ANGELES, Oct 20 — The hit mobile phone Match 3 app is being adapted for US TV, as CBS and Lionsgate team up with King to convert Candy Crush Saga.
First released in 2012, Candy Crush Saga has become a colossal success for Swedish app developer King.
Presented with a board of candy-themed tiles, players swap the tiles around until they can match three or more of them in a horizontal or vertical row.
But in a twist on the usual Match 3 formula, new types of candies can be generated depending on how those matching tiles line up.
Available across iOS, Android, Facebook, King’s own website, and select other social networks, at its peak it had over 20 million daily active users — a record held until the advent of Pokémon Go in mid-2016.
A combination of novelty, accessibility, intricacy, and an aggressive approach to growth and revenue generation meant King’s hit was thought to be making close to US$1 billion (RM4.17 billion) a year.
With two sequels already in the wild — Candy Crush Soda Saga and Candy Crush Jelly Saga — plus a few other variations on the Match 3 formula, Candy Crush is now headed for US TV.
How does it work? “Teams of two people use their wits and physical agility to compete on enormous, interactive game boards featuring next generation technology to conquer Candy Crush and be crowned the champions,” King explained in a prepared statement.
That mix of wits, physical agility, and enormous show paraphernalia might ring a bell for those familiar with the Wipeout, Fear Factor and Kicking & Screaming shows, and those shows’ producer, Matt Kunitz, is working on the Candy Crush project for Lionsgate.
From smartphone to TV
It joins a number of other apps and mobile games in stepping over to TV or, at least, attempting to.
Draw Something was a sensation when it released on iOS and Android in February 2012, with Facebook integration key to its success.
The Pictionary-style game was picked up by CBS, and though it is yet to materialise on US TV, UK network Channel 4 aired eight weeks’ worth of Draw It! on weekdays during the first half of 2014, though the show was not renewed for a second season.
NBC Universal and UK channel ITV have agreed deals for a game show based on social, trivia-based app QuizUp, with QuizUp America initially announced for the end of 2016.
And in August, a Beat Shazam announcement was the result of a partnership between music identification app Shazam and Fox TV.
As for video game publisher Activision-Blizzard, which bought King in February 2016, recently launched an animated adaptation of its own Skylanders franchise on Netflix. — AFP-Relaxnews
