The makers of what appears to be the hottest game in the country, Candy Crush has filed its first UDRP.
King.com Limited Midasplayer.com Ltd. filed a UDRP against the domain name CandyCrushSecrets.com
The domain name CandyCrushSecrets.com was registered in February 19th of this year by someone in Malaysia.
The domain CandyCrush.com was first registered in April 2012, and was purchased in February of this year for a whopping $1,877 at Afternic.
The domain name CandyCrush.com is being forwarded to candycrushsaga.com
You think the previous owner of CandyCrush.com left a few dollars on the table when they sold the domain for less than $2K?
The UDRP was filed with WIPO and was assigned number D2013-1405
“someone in Malaysia.” – I am shocked.
BrianWick:
whats that supposed to mean?
InterWeb – What does it mean to you
just wondering why you’re shocked it was someone in Malaysia, i dont get it..
explain what you mean..
I went to the site and see that King.com is still using their ‘new and improved’ logo which looks more like it’s spelled ‘Kung’. I liked their old logo so much better. Even the ‘K’ is so stylized that it could almost be mistaken for two separate letters, or even a non-english character. A good lesson in bad design…
I’m shocked it wasn’t by someone in Iowa.
“A good lesson in bad design…” – I will take that for my thought of the day
Interweb-
In Most – if not all Asian Countries – likely including Malaysia, US Law like ACPA and its $100K fines cannot be imposed – just UDRP – which means – its it just someone new to the Internet – like you – except they are bottom feeders.
Does that get you off your cardboard pedestal
Candycrush is a really simple game, which required minimal coding/design. It’s pulling in about $1 million in revenue, daily. Apparently, it’s addicted. Expect several more “Candy” spin-offs.
Addendum: addictive, not addicted.
So Steven –
You see another Zynga – “go public – draw in sucker gamers (oops I mean investors) and then drive the business into the ground” scenario ?
BrianWick:
‘murica
ef yeah.
@Steven
It would be interesting to know how much it cost to make. Even seemingly simple games by larger developers can be surprisingly expensive. ‘Whale Trail’, for example, cost about £150,000 to make, but UsTwo, the developers, last I read, were still trying to break even. Games like ‘Candy Crush’ are games that have basically won the lottery. The median income for an app developer is a surprisingly low $600 per year. (Because there’s a lot of crap out there.) The big success stories like this, which as you imply, is only a simple connect-3 type game, are the rare exception. Unfortunately, novice developers often go in thinking they can do the same, until the reality of selling only a hundred copies (if they’re lucky) sets them straight.
In any event, ‘Candy Crush’ is a Freemium game, which appears to be the way to go if you want to have a chance at making big money. The game is free to play, but once addicted, customers have the option to make in-app purchases… which results in far greater income over simply selling the game from the outset for 99 cents.
BrianWick…how do you know how the internet law works in Msia?
Maybe they still live on trees?
@MHB
If candycrush. com was your domain how much would you have asked for it and what would have been your bottom dollar price for selling it?
Doesn’t $1,877 resemble so-called “charm” pricing quite often seen with Buy Domains names? Was it a BD owned name?
@Brian —
I had a company that had several popular apps on Facebook. It’s very precarious. Zynga learned this, as they migrated away from the FB ecosystem and their user base faced massive attrition. But the CEO cashed out $750 million before the plunge.
This games are “hit or miss”. Very risky endeavors. Either you get a blockbuster or a bomb, and unlike movies, you don’t have as many paths to recoup investment.
@Grim,
Yes, they make in app-purchases just like they did on the “Ville” games. This happens only when the addicted try to make impressions on other users. But unlike other addictions, people get over these games pretty fast —
As far as the price for the domain, it seems reasonable. I would imagine wordswithfriends.com would have fetched a similar price, as well as farmville.com.
@Steven
Yes, you’re right, it’s all about people’s egos and how well they play against others, that keep them addicted to games like this… I would disagree in many cases though that the addiction is over pretty fast… this game may be an exception, but I’m always amazed by how many people continue to play the same boring online RPG or whatever for years, just to show off to others how good they’ve become at it.
So Grim – “the addiction is over pretty fast” –
In the USA we have a society where there is a lot of apathy & frustration from the conservatives & republicans because the administration’s policies just do not make common fundamental business sense, yet there is even more angst & frustration from the dems & libs because virtually all the things they voted (or were ‘sold’) did not happen.
So what do you do with all these frustrated people – god knows you can only jerk off so many times – yes.
Well the answer is…. simple (not complex) games for the frustrated “sheep” on this planet – i.e. cheap therapy.
And the point is – the easier the game is to play – the better – people lives are far too complex already.
That is what I ( and others) want to do with Tunnels.com – you know – just running around underground chasing your shadow for hours at a time 🙂
Brian, I would agree that many people just want a quick pick-up-and-play game these days, to fit into their busy lives. That’s why the casual game market did so well over the past decade, and now simple game Apps are picking up where that left off.
Your Tunnels.com idea could work… especially if you make it a multi-player game like Candy Crush so people can compete online against each other to see who can have the most bragging rights at being best at chasing their shadow. 😉