Join Steve Collins, CTO of King Games, creators of the globally popular game Candy Crush, as he shares insight into their current journey of embedding Artificial Intelligence into the fabric of their organisation. Steve will navigate through the challenges they have faced, the strategic choices made, and the innovative approaches undertaken. This talk offers a unique chance to gain firsthand knowledge of how a global gaming leader is embracing AI, and how these insights can be leveraged by other organisations seeking to harness the power of technology for their own growth and transformation. Whether you are a technology leader, or industry professional, you will find valuable lessons in this talk on how to successfully marry AI with the daily operations and strategic vision of a company.

1. Steve Collins
CTO King
Integrating AI
into the Game
King’s Journey of
Technology Transformation

2. Mobile has become bigger than PC & console combined
1997
2007
2008
2012
Gaming Market Share in 2022
Source: NewZoo 2022 | Global Games Market Report

3. The King Saga
King launches
Bubble Witch
Saga.
King launches
Candy Crush Saga.
King goes mobile!
Bubble Witch
Saga launches on
iOS and Android.
King continues to
grow with new
and exciting
franchises.
King invests in
Candy Crush growth
2003 2011
2012 2013-2014
2019-2022
King is founded!
Focused on web games.
Transitioned to social
games.
MARCH
SEPTEMBER
APRIL
JULY

4. Candy Crush Saga
Launched 2012
now 15,000 levels
5,000,000,000,000+
levels completed
5,000,000,000+
Candy franchise
downloads

5. Three-Tiered Experiences
1
2
3

6. Global Mobile Game Service

7. AI: A KingSized
Transformation

12. 2022 = A Generative AI Explosion
GANs
Stable Diffusion Transformers

14. Gen-AI Potential
Enhanced game features
Enhanced production
Enhanced software development
Enhanced cognitive productivity

15. King’s AI History

16. Optimising Player Experience

17. Complex Dynamic System

18. Complex Dynamic System
Core Loop
Play Level Social Action
Store Engage Event
(Re)Start
Intervention Point / Placement

19. Complex Dynamic System
Display Ad
Promote Feature
Store / IAP Offer
Arbitration Stack
Premium Ad Content
Cross Promote
Indirect Backfill
Short Form
Long Form
Branded In-Game Content
Unvisited New Feature
Uncompleted Action
Social Interaction
Currency Bundles
Season Packs
In-Game Content
Register Account
Save Progress
Join Guild
Challenge Friend
Complete the Collection
Recommended Item
Earn Badge

20. Complex Dynamic System
Optimise for Player
Experience Over Time
Player Journey
Play
Level
Play
Level
Play
Level
Decision Decision
Decision Decision
A C B

21. Optimising Levels

23. Levels are our
most important
content

24. Best next move…?

25. Training the AI
Representation Training Data
Gudmundsson et al., “Human-Like Playtesting with Deep Learning“, IEEE
CIG 2018.

26. Level Playing Bot
New Level
Most
Human-like
Move
94%
1%
5%
Given a large number of examples,
predict the best next move.
Trained Model / Bot

27. Optimising Performance
Marketing

28. User Acquisition & ROI
Re-engage
Acquire LTV
Time
Predict
LTV $ UA $
ROI $
= -

29. Embedding AI @ King

30. Enterprise Adoption Challenges
https://www.ibm.com/downloads/cas/6DR9QRVQ
Their data is not ready 61% Data
Implementation of AI solutions
seems overwhelming 55% Complexity
AI development will be delayed until
ethical concerns can be legislated 49% Risk
AI is only relevant
for limited applications 39% Awareness

31. Data mature, but lacking in deep
ML adoption
No single ”golden path” for ML
implementations
No clear ownership & governance
of use cases, models or results
Limited number and scope of ML
applications in production
Initial state @ King

32. People & Skills
Technology
Enterprise Experience
Currently King employs > 50 people
in the AI/ML, ML Platform
and game AI teams.
Acquired Peltarion in 2022 for:

33. AI Centre of Excellence
Strategy, use cases support,
education, onboarding, research
and external thought leadership &
advocacy
ML Special
Projects
AI
Enablement
AI
Labs

34. Enterprise AI Maturity path
Exploring
POCs
Research
Notebooks
Settling
Use cases
Consulting
Educating
Farming
Productizing
Repeatability
Targets
Trading
Automation
Productivity
Platforms
Globalizing
Maturity
Operations
Strategy

35. Power of company-level OKR
Some Lessons…
ML Predications are just 1st step
Aligning the middle is harder
Finance is the United Nations