How Glu Mobile refit an earlier game to make chart-topping “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood”
Q&A: Keeping up with hit mobile game Kim Kardashian: Hollywood — Reality TV star and actress Kim Kardashian has conquered everything from cable TV to bottled water with some stupendous branding tactics.
Context & Ripple Effects
Glu Mobile's Q&A with Gamasutra reveals the production method behind its summer hit: King Digital's reliance on a single Candy Crush franchise had already shown how concentrated mobile revenue can be, and Glu's answer was to refit an existing game rather than build from scratch, pairing reused systems with Kim Kardashian's brand.
The story travelled unusually far for a developer interview — pickups ranged from TechCrunch and Bloomberg to Jezebel, Slate, E! Online, TIME and the Washington Post — because it sits at the intersection of two audiences: games-industry watchers studying free-to-play economics and celebrity-brand coverage treating the app as another Kardashian licensing venture.
First-order effects
- Glu Mobile gains a chart-topping title built on recycled technology, validating a low-cost development path where an earlier game's codebase becomes the foundation for a licensed property.
- Kim Kardashian extends her brand portfolio — cable TV, retail, fragrance — into interactive software, with the game functioning as both revenue and always-on publicity.
Second-order effects
- Other celebrities and their licensing teams now have a proven template showing that a mobile game can be produced quickly by refitting existing tech, lowering the barrier for talent-led app deals across entertainment.
- Rival mobile publishers face pressure to secure celebrity IP before the best-known names are locked up, echoing the winner-take-most revenue concentration already visible at King Digital.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, mid-tier mobile studios increasingly compete on access to famous brands rather than original design, pushing the industry toward a licensing middleman role — with the structural risk that a publisher's fortunes hinge on one personality or property, much as King's do on Candy Crush.
The trend: Mobile gaming is shifting toward celebrity-branded free-to-play titles assembled from refitted engines, making star licensing a core publishing strategy rather than a novelty.