Candy Crush Saga vs Royal Match

How do Candy Crush Saga and Royal Match compare on difficulty, ad pressure, in-app-purchase pressure and what real reviewers say? A side-by-side look, grounded in App Store data.

	Candy Crush Saga	Royal Match
Genre	Puzzle	Puzzle
Price	Free	Free
Difficulty	hard	hard
Ad intensity	high	high
In-app-purchase pressure	high	high
Typical session	variable	medium
Rating	4.7 / 5	4.7 / 5
Ratings count	3,956,196	3,722,504
Reviews say	What players like Addictive core match-3 gameplay with escalating difficulty Free to play with offline support Daily rewards and time-limited events for engagement Common complaints Aggressive ad placement and hard-to-close ad windows causing accidental clicks Pay-to-win mechanics with removed ad-based rewards after updates Technical bugs including crashes, freezing, and broken iPad UI	What players like Entertaining and addictive gameplay loop Progression system unlocks new castle areas Powerful boosters and collectible rewards Common complaints Levels become impossible without in-app purchases Difficulty spike designed to pressure spending Pay-to-win mechanics targeting spenders with easier levels

Candy Crush Saga — Match-3 puzzle game where you blast candies through thousands of levels while navigating aggressive monetization and intrusive ads. (rated hard difficulty, high ad pressure) Royal Match — Match-3 puzzle game where you restore a royal castle by breaking obstacles and combining power-ups to beat challenging levels. (rated hard difficulty, high ad pressure)

Data: Apple App Store, as of 2026-07-10. Last updated 2026-07-10.