How Do You Manage A Product That Is A Massive Hit?

How Do You Manage A Product That Is A Massive Hit

What is the dream of product managers? Maybe it’s the idea that our product will become a huge hit and everyone will want it. Once they have it, they will spend their entire day using it. King Digital Entertainment’s product managers are living the dream if that is what you want.

Living with a Hit Product

King Digital’s Candy Crush Soda Saga is a huge hit. They clearly understood the product development process. The predecessor, “Candy Cush Sage”, was released in 2012, which is a long time back. It is still the third most downloaded game in Apple’s App Store. Candy Crush Soda Saga ranks fifth on this list. Candy Crush Soda Saga launched in November 2015.

The original game’s elements were retained in the new game, and the game was adapted. Candy Crush Soda Saga has new puzzles that will challenge players. King Digital teamed up with the London Symphony Orchestra in order to create a fantastic soundtrack to the game that made it even more fun.

King Digital gives Candy Crush Soda Saga away free of charge. This product is accessible to the customer. This sounds difficult to include on a product manager’s resume. You might be wondering how they make their money. Simple – in-game purchases. King Digital offers digital “boosters” that can be used to help gamers. These purchases enable players to get through even the most difficult levels.

How to Manage a Hit Product

The Candy Crush Soda Saga app is clearly a success for King Digital’s product managers. The game had only 135 levels when it was released in its first release. After completing those levels, the user was done. You no longer needed to play or purchase game boosters.

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This problem was solved by the King Digital product managers, who created new levels for their game. A small group of software developers was given the task of creating 15 stories, which are released every two weeks. Designers are under tremendous pressure. Some customers can complete 15 levels in one day.

King Digital’s product managers have set some clear guidelines for what level a level should have. First, the story must be enjoyable for customers to play. Customers will not continue playing the game if they don’t like it. Next, every level must be possible without the need for boosters. They want to sell boosters but also want to make sure their customers don’t need boosters to finish a level.

Product managers believe that a customer should be able to solve an easy level within five attempts. An attempt to solve a problematic level should take no more than 30 attempts. A story that requires 50 attempts to solve during development is a sign that the designers need to go back and fix it. The analytics they can collect from millions of players of their game is one of the most powerful tools for product managers. They can monitor how users use new levels and make adjustments even after they are released.

What Does All This Mean for You?

King Digital’s product managers are having a great time. The famous Candy Crush Saga app has a follow-up app called Candy Crush Soda Saga. This app is even more prevalent. Their real challenge will be keeping their customers happy with their app.

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King Digital makes its money selling in-game boosters. These boosters can be used to help them complete challenging levels. The original Candy Crush Soda Sage had 135 stories. King Digital software developers release 15 new levels every other week to keep users interested in the app after they’ve completed the 135 levels. These levels are meant to be challenging but not too difficult.

It is beautiful to be successful. It is something we, as product managers, need to understand and learn to manage. While we spend a lot of time learning how to turn underperforming products into success, we don’t often spend enough time learning how to handle failure. We might be able to learn from King Digital’s product managers how they manage their success and be prepared for when it knocks at our door.

 

 

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