Candy Crush Saga

The app icon for Candy Crush Saga

*Candy Crush Saga* is a free-to-play single-player puzzle game developed by King and released in 2012. As one of the most popular games on mobile platforms, Candy Crush Saga allows players to work through a large set of levels with varying objectives. The standard goal of Candy Crush Saga is to match candies that are beside each other in a pool, and different levels will have additional objectives such as matching a specific number of coloured candies, matching a certain number of striped candies, getting items to the bottom of the screen, and more.

## In-Game Currency

Candy Crush Saga only has one currency within its game:

* **Gold/Gold Bars :** Gold bars can be purchased with real money, or can be earned through events.
	+ **Uses:** Lives, Boosters, Moves.

### Currency Bundles

#### Purchasing Gold Bars

To purchase gold bars, a player can either click the shop icon on the bottom right section of the screen or the gold bar on the top right section:

There are six gold bar bundles that can be purchased. None of the bundles offer extra gold bars.

 50 gold bars
 100 gold bars
 250 gold bars
 500 gold bars
 1000 gold bars

### Currency Exchange Rate

The currency exchange rate is an estimate calculated by accounting for all currency bundles available for purchase. You can find a detailed breakdown of this process here.

The currency exchange rate is the average rate of all 6 bundles: 1 CAD to 5.74 Gold Bars.

### Payment Methods

Current payment methods include the following:

* Mastercard
* Visa
* Apple Pay
* Amex
* PayPal

### Refund Policy

Candy Crush does not offer refunds for purchases generally. Players may request refunds if they purchased by accident or if someone else (i.e. a family member) purchased on their account. Players can request a refund at their point of purchase.

## In-Game Items

### Lives

Lives represent the number of attempts that players have to retake a level after failure. The standard amount of lives is 5 but may be extended through events, boosters, and more. If players have lives below 5, it will regenerate at the rate of 1 life every 30 minutes. If a player runs out of lives, they can purchase one life for 4 gold, 5 lives for 12 gold, or unlimited lives for 6 hours using 69 gold.

### Boosters

Boosters are power-ups that can be used throughout a level to simplify the player’s gameplay. Depending on the booster, they can be chosen prior to the level starting, or be chosen during the level. Boosters can be obtained for free through ads, the booster wheel, the daily treat machine, the daily win, weekly contests or episode races. However, boosters are mainly obtained by spending gold. Boosters are generally a one-time use, but sometimes a player can spend gold to get unlimited uses of a certain booster for a limited amount of time.

The daily Booster Wheel is a way to get free Boosters.Events provide alternate ways of getting boosters.
### Item Costs

As of October 2023, the current lowest and highest cost items that are purchasable in Candy Crush Saga are the following (not including items that are given for free or have to be purchased as part of a bundle):

 **Most Expensive Item** | Set of 10 Party Boosters

## Battle Pass

Candy Crush Saga does not have any battle passes in its game.

## Subscriptions

Candy Crush Saga does not have any subscriptions in its game.

## Loot Boxes

Candy Crush Saga does not have any loot boxes in its game.

## DLC

Candy Crush Saga does not have any paid DLC available.

## Editions

Candy Crush Saga has no Editions available.

## Pay-to-Win Systems

Candy Crush Saga has several pay-to-win microtransactions as nearly all of them provide a direct advantage towards gameplay. Boosters, described above, add various benefits to the current level that make it easier for the player.

Additionally, players are able to pay for additional moves after losing to finish the level. Usually, the number of moves per purchase is 5, but the game will offer 10 extra moves if the player continues to fail a level. On the purchase prompt for extra moves, the game will sometimes offer statistics on how many players purchased extra moves or used boosters to encourage spending. Once a player has unlocked the feature of win streaks, the game may also mention that the player is at risk of losing their win streak unless they purchase extra moves.

## Limited Time Offers

### Shop Bundles

Candy Crush Saga offers both daily and weekly deals that do not indicate what time it will be reset on (or the day for the weekly deal). All bundles offered in the shop must be bought with real money.

### Prompts

Occasionally, prompts to purchase in-game currency or items with real money will show up randomly on the home screen. A player can only obtain these deals in the moment, or else they will have to wait for the prompt to pop up again by chance.

Random prompt offering a microtransaction to the player.Random prompt showing different microtransaction offerings.
## Personal Review

**How does the video game’s culture impact microtransaction spending?**

Although Candy Crush Saga is a very popular game, it’s culture does not impact microtransaction spending as the gameplay experience is largely isolated. There are certain ways that people can help each other, but this is very limited so microtransactions are mostly for the player’s benefit.

**Is it possible to free-to-play while having a good experience?**

Candy Crush Saga is very easy to play without spending as many boosters and perks are available for free through daily logins and events. The main microtransaction I can see players spend money on is lives, especially due to mini races where you compete with other players to see who can reach a certain level first. Not having enough lives could potentially put you behind if you fail levels too many times. With that said, it is not necessary to participate in mini races and even if you do, there is no real reason to spend money.

**What is the value proposition offered by the microtransaction systems and are they substantial improvements over not spending?**

The main value proposition is time and convenience as most items for sale can also be earned over time. Paying helps get through levels faster and it makes them easier.

**Do microtransactions add “value” or simply add prices to features/items that other games include by default?**

Microtransactions in candy crush do not add value, they simply add prices to features or items that other games include by default. Even in Candy Crush, the items are available for free without paying if you are willing to wait.

**Do you need to spend to have fun?**

If you are patient with the game and are able to wait for resources, there is no need to spend to have fun. I can see impatient people not having too much fun in this game without paying since it is possible to get stuck on levels and needing to wait for resources to gather unless they pay.

**Is it worth spending on microtransactions in the long run?**

Since the microtransactions only offer short term benefits that would be possible to acquire for free, they have no long term usefulness.

**Do I recommend that you spend on this game based on my personal experience playing it?**

I would not recommend spending on this game. Instead, go in with reasonable expectations and play it casually. Given the abundance of free rewards, its possible to enjoy it more than sufficiently without paying.

## Resources

1. ↑ Candy Crush Saga Wikipedia
2. ↑ King Community Support - Refund Policy
3. ↑ Candy Crush FANDOM Wiki - Boosters