THE 150 MILLION MARK
Sandbox mobile game, Melon Sandbox, quietly passed 150,000,000 players. When asked about its plans for PC, publisher PlayDucky and Melon Sandbox’s lead developer cites an eventful summer ahead…
I Ivan Fedyanin (founder)
n the era of smartphones, social media, and casual gaming experiences, mobile publisher PlayDucky has subtly built an empire. With
nearly 22,000,000 players per month, their standout ragdoll physics game, Melon Sandbox, has avoided the media’s keen eye until recently. Now, Melon Sandbox’s creator and lead developer is sharing what led to the game’s compounded success in just 4 short years, and spoils what’s to come for the behemoth creative experience.
A SLEEPER SUCCESS Originally launched in 2022, Melon Sandbox was a response to the comment sections of gaming’s most popular sandbox titles. Amidst the chatter of feature updates and licensed collaborations was the permeating question of mobile accessibility. The gap in the market was clear, and Melon Sandbox was created to fill the void. In the days following the game’s beta launch, player numbers quickly reached 15,000, and a snowball effect began on social media as creators shared clips of the new title. This unexpected growth, though welcome, was
unfounded for a 16-year-old developer looking to pass his high school exams and commit to university. To keep development from stalling, this
36 | MCV/DEVELOP July/August 2026
one-man project onboarded help from PlayDucky, the experienced hypercasual mobile publisher with a roster of successful titles. Anticipating Melon Sandbox’s growing success and live-ops maintenance needs, the team stepped in to maximize the title’s potential. Melon Sandbox boasts a play-how-you-want
style, attracting artists, programmers, engineers, and casual players alike. PlayDucky aimed to keep the game true to its original F2P sandbox model and focused its efforts on retaining the thousands of players downloading the game each day. This began as regular updates to introduce new tools for the game’s widespread audience. Users looking to create, destroy, mimic, or build in the sandbox received frequent updates to improve the gameplay experience. According to PlayDucky’s founder, Ivan
Fedyanin, the ability to manufacture creations and share with the community – both in-game and on social media – has contributed most to player retention. Melon Sandbox’s Editor allows players to access
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