Candy Crush boss keeps AI away from level design as revenue tops $1 billion
Paula Ingvar says King uses AI tools for testing, but its long-running mobile hit still depends on human designers.
By Hana Yoshida · Markets Reporter
3 min read
Candy Crush Saga remains a major earner 14 years after launch, with Fortune reporting annual revenue of $1 billion and more than 150 million monthly players. Its manager, Paula Ingvar, says the game’s future depends on keeping humans in charge of the creative work as artificial intelligence spreads through gaming.
The mobile puzzle game, created by King and launched in 2012, began with 65 levels. Fortune reported that it now has more than 20,000, with related titles including Soda Saga and Jelly Saga.
Microsoft became the owner of King through its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2023. Activision had bought King in 2016 for $5.9 billion, a deal Fortune said now looks favorable given Candy Crush’s continued revenue.
Gaming is a large global business, valued at $386 billion in 2026, according to market research firm Gitnux as cited by Fortune. Gitnux also estimates that about 350,000 people work directly in the industry.
AI has a role, but not the main one
Ingvar, Candy Crush’s general manager in Stockholm, told Fortune that King uses automated bot systems to test new game progression in roughly 20 to 30 minutes. She said the earlier alternative was releasing some features directly to players, sometimes hurting the experience.
She drew a line at handing over level creation. Ingvar told Fortune that level design and game design remain skilled work that needs designers, artists and other experts close to the player experience.
According to Ingvar, the appeal of Candy Crush levels comes from the sense that a player is trying to beat a challenge made by another person. She said King sees little player value in placing agentic AI between designers and players or outsourcing parts of creation to such systems.
Ingvar also told Fortune that some people have assumed for years that Candy Crush levels were machine-made. She said the game’s 21,000-plus levels are handmade by level designers, and that King expects players to recognize the difference.
A game built for short sessions
Fortune described Candy Crush as a casual game designed for brief play, including sessions lasting only a few minutes. Ingvar said King wants the game to fit into players’ lives rather than demand long stretches of attention.
The company has also kept the game available on a broad range of mobile devices, Ingvar told Fortune. She said King supports older hardware and offline play so more people can use the game, even when those choices add costs.
The audience is central to the business model. Fortune reported that 62% of Candy Crush players are women, and that the game makes about 95% of its income from in-app purchases under a freemium model.
A January survey by Ampere Analysis, cited by Fortune, found that women were more likely than men to make in-app purchases, even though men spend more on gaming overall. David Glance, a software academic at the University of Western Australia, previously wrote in The Conversation that Activision’s purchase of King gave it access to mobile gaming and a large female audience.
Ingvar also linked broader diversity to better decision-making. She told Fortune that leaders need to pay attention to gender, nationality, experience and age when building teams, saying change will not happen without deliberate hiring strategies.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.