Tencent Holdings has announced that it will bring King’s successful mobile puzzler Candy Crush Saga to its WeChat mobile messaging platform.

The announcement does not mark the Chinese debut of Candy Crush, however, as it’s already available in China via the App Store - but due to the limited penetration of iPhone and iPads in China, Candy Crush only ranks as the 65th highest grossing game in the country.

Bringing Candy Crush to the more widespread WeChat platform - which has designs on cornering 30 percent of China’s mobile market share - will attract millions of new players to King’s flagship title.

Going social

The launch of Candy Crush on WeChat might allow King to sidestep the social media hurdle waiting for it in China - a country where Facebook is officially blocked.

This firewalling presents a major issue for King with Candy Crush, as it prevents players from sending out requests for new lives to friends via social media. Integrating through WeChat might enable Candy Crush players to send out these requests and thus keep them engaged and playing.

Finally, China also represents a new business opportunity for King - which recently suffered a sour start to its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange.

[source: Wall Street Journal]