Candy Crush Saga's Soda-Inspired Sequel Gets Soft-Launched on Android

King, the maker of popular mobile game Candy Crush, on Tuesday soft-launched another version of the game - Candy Crush Soda Saga - on Google Play for Canada, Sweden, Spain, and the Netherlands.

The gameplay of Candy Crush Soda Saga remains familiar (match-three candies) as seen on the other apps in Candy Crush series. However, the background of the game now has a new purple soda liquid which makes the candies in the grid float up instead of fall down. Users can match candies across 75 levels to make through a soda-soaked world.

On the Google Play store listing of Candy Crush Soda Saga, the free game's description reads, "Switch and match your way through new dimensions of gameplay in this juicy puzzle adventure. Embark on an epic journey through the magical Kingdom to discover the hidden secrets behind the Candy World [..] Take on this challenge alone or play with friends to see who can get the highest score! [..] This game is completely free to play but some in-game items such as extra moves or lives will require payment."

Although there is no official word on the global availability of the Candy Crush Soda Saga on Android, but it is speculated to launch sometime in the second half of the year, with an iOS version following soon after.

The question remains however, whether the game will come to iOS at all if the existing Candy Crush Saga app may be taken down from the App Store as it reportedly violates Apple's new Developer Guidelines.

The new policy concerns some of the methods used by developers to monetise their apps, such as incentivised rating, sharing and video viewing. This includes in-app rewards for viewing videos and sharing on social networks, used by many freemium apps.