Kim Kardashian game maker Glu Mobile to introduce a Katy Perry game in late 2015
Sapna Maheshwari / BuzzFeed :
Context & Ripple Effects
Glu Mobile is running back its one proven hit formula barely half a year into Kim Kardashian: Hollywood's run: attach a global celebrity name to a free-to-play lifestyle game and let the fanbase do user acquisition. Weeks after this announcement, Kim Kardashian herself discussed plans for more apps with Adweek, confirming the celebrity pipeline was deliberate strategy, not a one-off.
What makes the Perry bet analytically interesting is where the template ended up: the celebrity-IP catalog became the asset Electronic Arts priced when it agreed to acquire Glu for $2.4B at a 36% premium in 2021.
First-order effects
- Glu Mobile commits its late-2015 slate to a second A-list license, and Katy Perry's camp gains a new direct-to-fan revenue channel modeled on the Kardashians' deal structure.
- The move raises the stakes on Glu's concentration risk: the company is now explicitly a celebrity-game publisher, so each new signing must clear the bar set by Kim Kardashian: Hollywood.
Second-order effects
- Competitors chase the same celebrity licensing lane — Chris DeWolfe's SGN responded within months by buying two development studios, building capacity to serve star-driven titles of its own.
- A working repeatable template makes the whole studio an acquisition target rather than a single-game business: Electronic Arts ultimately paid $2.4B for Glu, a 36% premium, effectively buying the celebrity catalog the Perry announcement helped extend.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, celebrity mobile games are campaigns with expiration dates, not franchises — Kim Kardashian: Hollywood drew $156M in sales across 2014–2016 yet was scheduled for an April 2024 shutdown, meaning licensors should price these deals as finite windows.
- Celebrity digital presence migrates from standalone apps toward platforms: Snap's moves to open Snapchat games to outside developers and license 3D Bitmoji character skins point to a future where stars plug into existing networks instead of commissioning bespoke games.
The trend: Mobile gaming's mid-2010s celebrity-licensing boom proved a repeatable template whose value migrated from individual studios into platform-level consolidation and finite, sunset-bound licensed titles.