About this episode
This week on The Product Experience, we revisit a great conversation with Todd Green, now President of King – the studio behind Candy Crush. Todd shares how he thinks about building products that are not only globally successful but enduringly fun. Todd takes us behind the curtain on what it really takes to build for mass audiences, create fun at scale, and grow empowered product teams.Key takeawaysFun can’t be optimised: Building successful games (or products) requires capturing something visceral. Metrics help, but “fun” starts as a feeling, not a number.Audience motivation matters more than demographics: Instead of targeting by age or gender, King focuses on why people play – whether it’s for calm, connection or challenge.Legacy products need product management too: The real work starts when a product survives beyond launch. King invests heavily in balancing new features with legacy complexity.Good product leaders own the business: At King, product leads (executive producers) are responsible for P&L – it's a full-stack role across delivery, team, and outcomes.Sharing insights is a team sport: King has full-time roles and informal networks dedicated to transferring learning between game teams.Ethical responsibility is core: King prioritises player wellbeing and long-term satisfaction – not just engagement – as a business principle.Building great managers is a product in itself: Todd sees first-line manager development as one of his top priorities for sustaining culture and performance.Key chapters 00:00 – Intro and Todd’s promotion 01:40 – Todd’s media roots and time at Fremantle 06:15 – Digital bibles and global format sharing 10:50 – Lessons from the Susan Boyle YouTube moment 13:40 – Shifting to King and the discovery of fun 18:30 – Motivations beyond boredom 22:45 – Building for a massive, diverse audience 26:40 – The product structure at King 30:10 – Keeping Candy Crush fresh after years at the top 35:05 – When to launch a new game 38:50 – Ethics and responsibility in game design 42:20 – Why qual and quant both matter 45:10 – How King shares knowledge across teams 48:00 – The hiring landscape and talent challenges 51:00 – Growing new managers and inclusive leadership 54:10 – Closing thoughts and Todd’s reflectionsOur HostsLily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She’s currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She’s worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testin
