Instead of offering free virality, Facebook has gradually shut down their virality and instead sells the users to publishers through ads. Giving free virality to games, cuts into Facebook’s main revenue source. Adding to this, they shifted their revenue strategy to ads.
They’ve seen the negative impact it has on their user experience, and slowly made changes to avoid games from taking advantage of their platform with spam. Instead of allowing games to post spam all over walls and notify other players freely of every small bit of activity, Facebook has scaled down over the last 4 years the impact of facebook connect. Facebook’s strategy dramatically shifted for games after Candy Crush. While socially connected players tend to retain longer (they see their friends progress) - players are less and less likely to opt-in to that kind of peer pressure on mobile. Players are less likely to connect their games, even when games offer big rewards for connecting. The biggest shift that has changed since Candy Crush Saga first came out is that friends within games, especially through facebook connect, have become decreasingly important.įor one, facebook connection has gone steadily down since 2012. Why are top developers are abandoning the pure Saga model? Being able to retain players that lapse from your hit games by cross-promoting them to your new exciting games is powerful.īut why is it that Peak Games, the last developer to have found success with the “pure” saga model, opted for a radically different design in Toon Blast? King and Playrix have done the same with their top franchises with clear success. It’s an obvious safe bet to repurpose the gameplay they already have. Much to the credit of their team, they managed through methodical improvements and strong performance marketing to build Toy Blast into the success it is today.Īfter the success of Toy Blast, it was no wonder that Peak Games started work on Toon Blast. But unlike most top grossing games, it was clear that Peak Games had a slow and steady growth to the top. Toy Blast grew to be a sticky top grossing puzzle game. Toy Blast, launched in 2015, featured a pure saga model, but with a new yet familiar take on the core mechanic. Peak Games was one of the few who did see success with the Saga framework. Some saw modest success with it, while others did not. The biggest games in the genre managed to add new elements to the metagame to separate themselves from the usual Saga-based model.īut during that time, most matching game companies stuck to the pure Saga framework. In 2016 Playrix launched Gardenscapes, already deconstructed here, which added narrative and decoration to the saga metagame. In 2015 Playrix launched Fishdom, where players could collect fish and decorate their fish tanks.
Also in 2014, Seriously launched Best Fiends, which added a light RPG upgrade system on top of the core mechanic. Players collected resources to eventually be able to afford to move through gates. In 2014 there was Gummy Drop by Big Fish Games, which added a dash of resource management to the saga framework. The Evolution of the Matching Genre & Toy Blast Since King dominated the puzzle game genre starting in 2012/2013 developers in the space have been actively trying to differentiate themselves from the dominant players. One version with the Saga map, another without it.įor those creating matching games, this has been a slow but obvious change.
Figure out how to beat each level and earn 3 stars.Two versions that Peak Games was testing in August.
Each level has a target and a limit to the number of moves or time to clear each level. Touch and swap the toys to match 3 or more of the same color, the more you blast, the more points you earn.
The further up the maps you go, the more difficult the levels will get, but don't worry they are all beatable with a little luck and lots of skill! Match as many toys as possible to get bigger more effective power up blasts including the rainbow rubrics cube, which allows you to blast all the toys of the same color you match it with. This will be one of the best toy match 3 puzzle games you play. The fun yet sometimes frustrating bomb levels will have you NEEDING to win. Join in on the fun with Toy Match 3: Toy & Toon Blast Party playing these crazy 500 levels that will have you addicted the higher up you go. Take the challenge and beat the game all for free! All levels have been tested and beat without any power ups. Toy Match 3: Toy & Toon Blast Party is one of the best match 3 games 2020 has to offer that was specially designed to be beat without buying boosts.