I’ll take “Unlikely game show inspirations” for $1,000, Alex.
King, Lionsgate, and CBS announced that the hit puzzle series for mobile Candy Crush is going to serve as the inspiration for a new one-hour game show. CBS will handle domestic distribution, and Lionsgate will take care of international duties. Candy Crush Saga and its sequel, Candy Crush Soda Saga, are two of the most popular games in the $36 billion mobile industry. Now the franchise is extending its sweet roots to new entertainment venues.
The game show version will have two teams of two compete on giant, interactive game boards. King, Lionsgate, and CBS will announce a host at a later date.
“We are huge fans of Candy Crush and, like so many others, we know the ‘rush’ of advancing to the next level of the game,” said Glenn Geller, president of CBS Entertainment, in a press release. “We’re excited to work with Lionsgate and King to adapt one of the world’s most popular and entertaining game franchises for television and make it available to its massive, passionate fan base who can watch and play along at home.”
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Candy Crush Saga originally launched as a match-3 puzzle game for web browsers in 2012, but it quickly found success on mobile. According to King, people play an average of 18 billion rounds of Candy Crush Saga every month. Its success lead to Activision Blizzard buying King for $5.9 billion in February.
Video games rarely serve as inspiration for a game show, but we do have a precedent for this. The computer trivia series You Don’t Know Jack entered the T.V. world in 2001, hosted by Paul Reubens. The show only lasted for six episodes on ABC.
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