Low development costs in Russia have helped the company be more competitive and profitable, the founders said. The company has more than 600 employees in Vologda, Russia, and 95 other cities. Those hits have helped it become one of Russia’s fast-growing companies. Rather than make fancy high-end games, Playrix specializes in casual releases, such as match-3 experiences and town simulations. And it has also been successful self-publishing its titles in China and Japan - a rarity for non-Asian game companies. Playrix is a rare company because it has produced four international hits (including Township and Fishdom, in addition to Homescapes and Gardenscapes). “You want to find out what is happening with the characters in the story.” “Our gameplay is … much different from Candy Crush since our metagame is so different,” Elovikov said.

Playrix’s rivals include Activision Blizzard’s King, which makes Candy Crush Saga, and Jam City, which makes titles that include Cookie Jam. “For us, the release is only the beginning.” “Homescapes started with a small team of 10 people, but it quickly grew to around 60 to 80 people,” Elovikov said. A lot of the work went into creating three protagonists with more than 30 supporting characters, whose stories stretch across hundreds of chapters.

The free-to-play offering took about 18 months for Playrix’s team to build, in contrast to four years for Gardenscapes.

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