G'day,
This is Samaria Mulligan calling. I have made a conjecture.Is the mass reduction of move counts to 15 moves part of ongoing tests?
King has shown no care in adjusting the move counts across levels. @QueenB personally posted a thread concerning impossible levels. It has since been marked as resolved, but the histograms say otherwise.
Figure 1: move counts by level before the 15-move levels
Figure 2: move count distribution before the 15-move levels (bye bye 50-move levels and levels with very low move counts)
Figure 3: move counts since late August
Figure 4: move count distribution after the 15-move levels.
2026 has been a hectic year for both Candy Crush Saga and Candy Crush Soda Saga. Already in the first half of the year, we were subject to various ongoing tests (according to @QueenB) that had a significant impact on our gameplay and interest in this game, many of them possibly hiding more awful changes like the removal of free switches across events in the name of a simpler booster set. (are they trying to rip off Royal Match?)
Though it is fortunate that most of them have faded, we are now facing a more insidious threat: level reduction to 15 moves with remarkable uniformity. I have been a longtime contributor to the Discord and the Wiki, and I have only recently started livestreaming my games. I even recorded a three-day campaign where the first eight hundred has been crowned without monetization consistent with the nature of the rotational Saga Map. This change seriously is making me consider exiting the game altogether as these 15-move levels are unworthy of documentation or recognition. I do not want to feature these 15-move levels on my livestreams even if I can clear most of them in under seven moves.
Candy Crush Soda Saga had an even worse case where almost all levels had their move counts reduced to 15 moves, an extreme low value otherwise. Sprinkleshell and multi-board levels have also largely been removed. Moreover, the Golden Pins and Previous Levels test returned in the form of a big green button in the name of "focusing forward" and "for now we are testing the new experience without
being able to replay levels." This big green button is in-your-face, but the 15-move level reduction is not, and had no precedent.
If this does not get reversed, my days in CCS will be numbered.
