Writing on the Windows blog, Microsoft announced that the company is working with its partners to ensure that top-quality games arrive on Windows 10. King published Candy Crush Saga to the Windows Phone Store only late last year but it has actively supported it since then.
At Microsoft Build in April, Microsoft revealed that Candy Crush Saga on Windows Phone was actually the result of porting an iOS game to Windows using Microsoft’s new tools that will be available to developers in Windows 10. King has now pledged support for Windows 10, ensuring that Candy Crush Saga – alongside some of its other titles – arrive on the platform.
Initially, this sounds like a positive thing for Windows. Unfortunately, Candy Crush Saga critics should note that Microsoft writes: “Candy Crush Saga will be automatically installed for customers that upgrade to or download Windows 10 during the launch!”
At this point, Windows fans may begin to lament Microsoft’s decision to bundle Candy Crush Saga with Windows. The company acknowledges in its blog post that Solitaire, Hearts and Minesweeper are revered as the classic Windows games and will be including new versions of these too. But you still can’t escape the fact that your Start menu will contain “Candy Crush Saga” once Windows is installed.
There is a possible explanation for this initially questionable behaviour. You have to remember that Windows 10 is going to be made available as a free upgrade in the first year to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users so Microsoft needs to find new ways of monetizing the “service” that it is creating.
Perhaps this is one of the ways that it is considering. It seems plausible that the company has struck a deal with King to bundle Candy Crash Saga with Windows which helps to make the free upgrade offer possible, however annoying it may be to those who don’t like Candy Crush or would rather not have it preinstalled in any case.
