Regardless, PlayRix ported over the matching gameplay from Fishdom (their only mobile match-3 game at the time) and soft-launched again in 2016. Most developers would sooner throw away a game than make such a drastic change so late in development. This decision can not have been an easy decision to make. Watch this video to see how Gardenscapes soft-launched:ĭuring the course of this soft launch, Playrix decided to shift their strategy from making a hidden object game to making a Match-3 game. Regardless, after four years of creating hidden object gameplay, gardenscapes was soft launched in 2015, with the same story, characters and features you see in Gardenscapes: New Acres today (just without the match-3). According to VentureBeat, Gardenscapes for mobile was in development for over four years. So when it came time for Gardenscapes to follow in the footsteps of Fishdom and Township, this would have been PlayRix’s first hidden object game in free-to-play. What’s interesting is comparing these old games to now - the characters, the animation style, the UI/UX design have all stayed consistent with the latest New Acres release.
Gardenscapes new acres game for pc Pc#
Gardenscapes on PC actually was not a matching game, but a hidden object game.Īs you can see from the above video, it was less about decorating a garden and more about running a bed and breakfast, looking after the guests that come visiting. After porting over Fishdom, the pressure was on to port over their Gardenscapes IP. By 2013, they had redesigned and launched Township on mobile. Focusing on narrative and decoration had already been proven, only 10 years prior.īy 2009, Playrix moved into free-to-play and launched their first simulation game, Township, onto Facebook. They’ve seen the cycles that match-3 players go through after playing too many Bejeweled clones. Playrix competed in a market from 2004 which mimicked the competitive trends we're seeing now on the App Store. Casual game companies attempted to innovate on the match-3 formula by adding simulation elements, decoration elements, darker themes and narrative elements. Similar to the competitive market of launching casual games in 2017, developers during the casual PC downloadable era fought to try to stand out with new mechanics and new themes. It’s not a coincidence that many of the top puzzle game developers today competed back in the casual PC market more than a decade ago. It’s interesting to note that, Big Fish, PopCap and Playrix all competed within the casual market in these formative years. Playrix during its early days released many successful titles like Fishdom, Gardenscapes, Farmscapes, 4 Elements and Royal Envoy. They specialised in matching and hidden object games. Playrix as a company started in 2004, building casual downloadable games for PCs. To understand the success of Gardenscapes, we have to go back to the history of Playrix and the Gardenscapes brand. So what has Playrix done with Gardenscapes that so many have failed to do?
It’s the first major successful innovation in the puzzle genre since 2012 when Candy Crush launched on mobile. Gardenscapes has made many companies within the puzzle genre turn their heads. G ardenscapes: New Acres by Playrix has now been a staple in the top grossing charts since September 2016, showing no signs of fading.
In particular, each of these games has shown that there is more than one way to monetise off a puzzle game audience. Playrix, a veteran casual game developer, has created two huge hits on mobile: Fishdom and Gardenscapes. King’s still on top, but there has been a new contender slowly moving up the charts. Turn back the clock only one year, and it felt like the matching/puzzle game genre was locked up and dominated by one player: King. This blog was originally posted on and Deconstructor of Fun.
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