By Kerri Stout


This simple yet surprisingly addictive game that engages you in matching colored sweets has an estimate worth of billions, even after this amount decreased from the Wall Street debut of the Company. Even in the best candy crush blog, it is estimated that this company makes around 800,000 dollars daily through in app purchases to help players complete new levels.

It is estimated to make around 800,000 US dollars every day just from its in app purchase schemes that push players past high levels. King Digital Entertainment, the app developer, was reported to have made a net worth of 568 million US dollars in 2013 alone.

The main reason why this game is so addictive is that at first, winning is so easy which results in a sense of satisfaction. This causes the release of dopa-mine, an addiction enforcing catalyst that keeps us playing it over and over again. This leads to addiction. As the game progresses, it gets harder. This gives an even stronger sense of satisfaction as one wins a round and hence more intermittent release of dopa-mine in the human brain.

Despite what many may think, including the claims of the app developers, this game relies entirely on luck depending on the randomness of the given candy colors rather than individual swiping skills. This implies that the reward schedules become unpredictable. As a result, we lose more than we win. This ends up enticing people to play more rather than discouraging them as opposed to having people win easily. This is an effective mental strategy used in gambling slot machines.

One other important feature of this game is that it limits the amount of time you can play. 5 losses, and you are on time out for the next couple of hours. This leaves you craving for another round of the game. By the time you are allowed back into candy land, the reward you get from winning the lost round becomes multiplied. This is also a clever scheme devised by the app developers to have people buy some extra lives and get back in sooner.

This technique is referred to as the hedonistic adaptation. When you take two groups and deprive one of a certain food for a week and provide plenty for the other group, the deprived group will appreciate the food more the following week if treated with it. This is as opposed to the group provided with the food in plenty who will find it less pleasing.

Finally, the last reason why this app is so enticing is the candy. Symbolic, it relates to the experience of pleasures we derive from eating such treats. This is what makes the fruit machine gambling slot so infamous. The app developers took advantage of this in making this game and it is speculated to be one of the subliminal reasons as to why it is such a success.

Now, while there are shocking stories where people neglected their responsibilities because they could not stop playing this game, candy crush is, at the most part, a completely harmless game. You do not have to pay a dime if you want to and of course, you can quit playing it any time you please.




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