Candy Crush TV Show in the Works
By Jasmine Henry 25 October 2016
A Candy Crush television show is in the works at Lionsgate, with the TV adaptation being a game show that sees players go through obstacle courses in order to collect pieces of candy.
Once boasting 500 million installs and 93 million daily active users, King’s Candy Crush Saga used to be the biggest mobile game around. But now, Pokemon GO is now the biggest mobile game, while Bethesda’s mobile spin-off Fallout Shelter is making more money than Candy Crush. Perhaps understanding that its success is quickly fading, King’s game will soon be available in a new and unexpected medium.
As reported by Mashable, a Candy Crush TV show is in the works. The television show, which is described as a “high-energy, challenging game show” by King’s Chief Creative Officer Sebastian Knutsson, sees teams of players compete to match three or more pieces of candy. Obstacle courses, new technology, and an “interactive game board” will be involved.
Lionsgate is developing the Candy Crush show (which does not have a release date or a host yet) for CBS, along with executive producer Matt Kunitz who is also the creator of Wipeout. In a statement, Kunitz says that “the Candy Crush franchise lends itself perfectly to the kind of larger-than-life, physical game shows that I love to produce and CBS is the perfect home for it.” He also adds that as a Candy Crush player himself, he is “excited to amp up the action and visuals in our huge Candy Crush Arena.”
CBS Entertainment President Glenn Geller also says that Candy Crush‘s “massive, passionate” fan base “can watch and play along at home.” It’s unclear whether Geller means that Candy Crush players can just load up the existing mobile game and play as they’re watching the show, or if viewers will be able to interact with the show itself. Allowing viewers to interact with the show, possibly to win prizes, would certainly get former Candy Crush players playing the game again and some would argue that not doing that would be a missed opportunity on King’s and Lionsgate’s parts.
Activision, which bought King for $5.9 billion last year, will no doubt be counting on this show to do well. King’s 2015 financials weren’t exactly something to write home about and the developer’s new owner will hope it can make a bit more of its money back with this television spin-off.
The Candy Crush project isn’t the only video game-related show that Activision has either, as Skylanders Academy is headed to Netflix. If the Skylanders and Candy Crush shows perform well, the publisher will likely spin off more of its series, making bank even when the popularity of the series’ games has started to wane.
Candy Crush Saga is available for Android and iOS devices.
Source: Mashable
