The KFC dating sim is I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin' Good Dating Simulator, an official KFC game released on Steam on 24 September 2019 and still free to download. Wieden+Kennedy conceived it and the studio Psyop built it. This case study covers how it plays, why KFC chose the genre and what it delivered.
We drew on the library record, the Steam page, a launch interview with KFC's US marketing chief, reviews and trade press. We found no sales figures tied to the game, so its numbers measure attention and play. The second half sets it beside KFC's nine other games in the library.
I Love You, Colonel Sanders! at a glance
I Love You, Colonel Sanders! — KFC (2019)
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy · Developer: Psyop · Mechanic: visual novel with mini-games (adventure & quest) · Platform: Steam for Windows and macOS (in-game)
Brand: KFC · Released: 24 September 2019 · Price: free · Objective: awareness
Who made the KFC dating sim?
KFC is listed as the publisher on Steam and Psyop as the developer (Steam). The idea came from Wieden+Kennedy Portland (Adweek), which approached Psyop with a KFC dating sim starring the Colonel as a romance option; Psyop's Alexei Bochenek was game director and narrative designer (Adweek). Game Informer covered the "coming soon" store page on 10 September, two weeks before release (Game Informer).
How do you play the KFC dating sim?
You are a student on a three-day semester at the University of Cooking School: Academy for Learning, and your dialogue choices decide whether the Colonel, drawn as a silver-haired classmate, falls for you (Wikipedia). The cast includes your best friend Miriam, a rival called Aeshleigh and a professor who appears to be a dog. Steam lists nine characters, a secret ending, secret recipes and cooking battles (Steam).
The talking is broken up by small games. Our record lists a turn-based fight with a monster made from a spork, a timed cooking-trivia round, a hidden-object search and a final cook-off. Kotaku's reviewer also ran into pop quizzes about the KFC brand and a final exam in which you make a KFC Famous Bowl with the Colonel (Kotaku). Pick the wrong line and the run can end, but the game offers to rewind. KFC's new Mac & Cheese Bowls are written into the story (Wieden+Kennedy).
A playthrough takes about an hour, not counting other branches (Wikipedia); Kotaku's reviewer finished in about 90 minutes.
Why did a fried-chicken brand make a dating sim?
KFC put the Colonel back into its advertising in May 2015, played by actors, starting with Darrell Hammond (Wikipedia). By 2019 the job was to keep him in pop culture. Andrea Zahumensky, then KFC's US chief marketing officer, told Slate the game was a way to bring the Colonel's real-life entrepreneurial story to life interactively, and that it kept his personality as an "over-the-top, feisty chicken salesman" (Slate). Launch support was earned media outreach and posts on KFC's own social channels (Chief Marketer).
Our reading of why the genre fit:
- The premise is the press release. "KFC made a game where you date the Colonel" fits in a headline, so coverage began before anyone had played.
- The genre is about getting to know a character. KFC's most valuable asset is one, and play means an hour spent with him.
- It is lighter to build than a 3D game. A visual novel is mostly writing and 2D art.
What did the KFC dating sim deliver?
Result: Contagious reported in November 2019 that KFC got 300,000 people to download the game and generated 1.6 billion total earned impressions (Contagious). SteamSpy puts owners at 200,000 to 500,000 (SteamSpy). SteamCharts records an all-time peak of 4,263 players at once, and the tail is long: an average of 4.69 players at a time in September 2026 (SteamCharts). On 12 October 2026, 91% of 11,517 English-language user reviews on Steam were positive (Steam).
Critics were cooler. The Metascore is 50 (Metacritic), and Kotaku found the writing shallow and the romance closer to a fried-chicken ad, though it liked how lovingly the food is drawn.
KFC's playbook: the other KFC games in our library
Our KFC brand page holds ten games. In most of them the Colonel is the target, the host or the character you play.
Snack! In The Face — KFC (2013)
Agency: DT & Ogilvy · Mechanic: catapult game · Platform: app
KFC Australia's free app had you fling popcorn chicken into the Colonel's mouth. Between 2pm and 5pm, the chain's weakest trading hours, landing five pieces in 60 seconds won a free snack coupon. The campaign has ended.
Result: 300,000 downloads in six weeks, No. 1 in the app store and a 20% sales increase over four weeks (Land of Digital). View the case
Help Colonel Sanders — KFC (2016)
Agency: Volta Agency · Mechanic: mini-games · Platform: web
A KFC Ukraine and Pepsi promotion: fill orders against the clock, and a full progress bar earns a code for a free treat in a restaurant. We found no published results.
Rewards Arcade — KFC (2022)
Agency: Rapp · Mechanic: instant-win arcade (arcade & action) · Platform: app · Objective: loyalty
KFC UK and Ireland swapped a stamp card for an arcade in its app. Spend over £3, scan the app's QR code before paying or order in the app, then swing a mallet at a strength-tester in Hammer Time; ring the bell and a free item lands in your rewards. Pinballer came later.
Result: a 53% increase in app downloads and a 26% increase in weekly active app users (Antavo). Antavo lists two more figures under Pinballer's comparison with Hammer Time: 86% of app users play every time they visit, and rewards redeemed rose 107%. It gives no period for any of these figures. View the case
Chef Colonel Sanders in Street Fighter 6 — KFC (2023)
Agency: Courage · Mechanic: arcade & action · Platform: in-game
KFC Canada shared a Street Fighter 6 recipe code that turns your fighter into the Colonel. Record a combo, post it tagging @KFC_Canada and you could win a CA$50 KFC gift card (Contagious).
Result: over $16 million in earned media value and an 8% lift in sales, and the film became KFC's most shared video within two hours, according to the 2024 ADC Awards entry, which won a Bronze Cube (The One Club). View the case
Original Fake Games — KFC (2025)
Agency: TBWA\RAAD, Eterna · Mechanic: arcade & action · Platform: app
In the UAE, KFC rebuilt four misleading mobile-game ads as real games starring the Colonel, with a global leaderboard.
Result: downloads ran 300% above KFC's expectations after a launch phase of a little over a week, KFC told Contagious (Contagious). View the case
11 Secrets — KFC (2025)
Agency: Highdive, Hexagram, m ss ng p eces · Mechanic: puzzle · Platform: web
A US puzzle hunt hidden in a 75-second film with chef Matty Matheson; the first to solve each of the 11 puzzles won 11 months of free KFC (ARGN).
Result: an average of 8 minutes spent on the film and all 11 prizes won within five days, according to the Shorty Awards entry (Shorty Awards). View the case
The library also holds KFC Island in Animal Crossing, the VR cook-training game The Hard Way and an Instagram scooter game, Eat Play Win Repeat.
What KFC's games have in common, and when a game is the wrong tool
The Colonel does the work. KFC owns a founder with a face, and its games turn him into a love interest, a mouth to aim at or a fighter skin. Brands without a character have to build one first.
The format follows the goal. For sales, KFC attached a coupon or a gift card (Snack! In The Face, Street Fighter 6). For frequency, it put a game behind orders over £3 (Rewards Arcade). The dating sim's job was talk, and it has no conversion point: no code, no coupon.
When not to copy the dating sim:
- If you need to show sales from the game itself. Its results are downloads and impressions.
- If nobody on the team knows the genre. Critics punished the parts that read as an ad.
- If your audience isn't on Steam. KFC's other games met players in a phone app, the KFC app and Street Fighter 6.
FAQ
Was I Love You, Colonel Sanders! made by KFC?
Yes. KFC is the publisher on Steam. Wieden+Kennedy Portland came up with the idea and the Los Angeles studio Psyop developed it. It launched on 24 September 2019 as part of KFC's effort to keep Colonel Sanders in pop culture. See the full case.
Where can you play I Love You, Colonel Sanders!, and is it free?
I Love You, Colonel Sanders! is on Steam. When we checked on 12 October 2026 it was still listed as free, for Windows and macOS, in English. A playthrough takes about an hour, longer if you chase other branches and the secret ending. More brand games you can still play are in our still-playable collection.
Who is Colonel Sanders?
Harland Sanders (1890 to 1980) founded Kentucky Fried Chicken; its first franchise opened in Utah in 1952. "Colonel" is an honorary Kentucky title, not a military rank. His face is the basis of the KFC logo, and since 2015 actors have played him in KFC advertising (Wikipedia).
What is a dating simulator?
A dating sim is a story game, usually a visual novel, in which you build relationships with characters through dialogue choices, and the ending depends on what you chose. I Love You, Colonel Sanders! parodies the genre with a three-day semester, one famous love interest and cooking battles. More story-led brand games are under adventure & quest.
Browse the food and drink collection and our fast food games round-up, see how Burger King used Xbox, or send us a game we have missed.