Barbie and Candy Crush is a match made in confectionary heaven

This seems like it's always been meant to be.

Jul 20, 2023

Between July 13and July 23, Barbie and her friends are taking a detour through Candy Crush’s Candy Kingdom to celebrate the most-anticipated film of the summer, Barbie, in theaters now. Players who join them on these special “Barbie Quests” will be rewarded with exclusive access to behind-the-scenes featurettes on the film, and other limited-edition treats.

For the Candy Crush design team, they saw the chance to take live action interpretation of Barbies from the movie (embodied by stars Margot Robbie and Issa Rae) and Ken (in the form of Simu Liu) and “Candy Crush-ify” them as the most no-brainer “challenge accepted” of their careers.

“The project was exceptionally exciting,” says King senior game artist Silvia Toma. “As a team, we pay close attention to elements such as how the actors hold themselves or how their facial expressions might move, especially as their characters in the film. This helps us ensure there is a consistency between the film and Candy Crush Saga.”

King lead artist Mathilda Holmberg understood immediately that there were just certain things that were immutably “Barbie”.

“I think the colors are a pretty essential design element when it comes to the overall look of the Barbie film,” she says. “Pink and yellow are what springs to mind whenever you think of the film. But you’ll see that an important part is focused on the variety of Barbie looks featured—no matter what shapes and sizes they come in, each one has a certain poise and grace, which as a designer makes my job even more enjoyable.”

Toma agrees, and was excited to see just how well Candy Crush meshed with Barbie.

“The Candy Crush branding is exceptionally versatile and playful,” she says. “And when you think about it, it has a very similar look and feel to the film. To have the chance to put these two worlds together—that was a huge achievement for this team.”

It just doesn’t get any sweeter.