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A duo of King product and research directors spoke at the Game Developers Conference today about how AI transformed automated level creation in Candy Crush Saga.
King has had an interesting journey in implementing and using AI to create business value. They have invested in various AI technologies, including high-speed AI level testing, to enhance the player experience.
Back in September, Activision Blizzard’s King (now owned by Microsoft) announced that Candy Crush Saga had reached $20 billion in revenue and five billion downloads since its debut in 2012 on mobile. This success has been a significant impact on the video game industry, with King having only 2,000 levels for the game in 2016.
Sahar Asadi, the director of AI Labs at King, has been leading a team for the past five years in applied research. They focus on strategic initiatives and applied research to bring value to the business by working closely with central tech organizations and game creators.
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As a director of AI Labs, Sahar is responsible for defining an AI research roadmap and developing AI use cases to create multiple effects for the business. She has a keen interest in attending industry conferences and cofounding them.
Before joining King, Sahar held important roles at Spotify and Meltwater, focusing on data science and natural language processing. She has a background in machine learning engineering and product recognition.
One of the core projects that Sahar initiated at King was around gameplay testing and level management automation using AI, which is crucial to maintaining user interest for over a decade.
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King has developed in-house AI capabilities over time and also explores external AI tools. They focus on reinforcement learning to build solutions that enhance gameplay experience for diverse players with different preferences and styles.
