By now, you’ve likely become addicted to CANDY CRUSH SAGA, that three-tile matching game that has taken Facebook and mobile by storm.
And you’re probaby wondering how King, the game’s publisher, has been able to make money by offering a game for free, or a “free-mium” game.
King seems to have stumbled upon a way to make money by offering digital crack.
The game is 100% free. There’s no reason why anyone would ever have to pay any money whatsoever to play CANDY CRUSH SAGA at all.
And yet, ACCORDING TO BUSINESS WEEK, King is making upwards of $850,000 a day from Candy Crush.
And they’re doing it by selling HELPFUL HINTS, BOOSTER ITEMS, and GAME SOLUTIONS to frustrated players who are set on finishing the hundreds of levels that King has released thus far.
Could this reliance be doomed? Is King fated to suffer from being too focused on the latest fad and not looking at what could come down the line next? Remember, it wasn’t too long ago that Zynga was the mobile darling child of the moment.
So, to paraphrase a common Internet meme – here’s how to make money online:
- Release a gaming/puzzle app for free
- Get people to pay you to solve the puzzles for them
- Profit!