It
was launched in 2014 with many doubting its success as reported in my blog
article entitled “Glu
Mobile's Kim Kardashian Hollywood App and How an A-List Celebrity boosts In-App
Purchases”.
It
then went on to make nearly US$541 million in four months as noted in my blog
article “US$51
million in Four Months for Kim Kardashian Hollywood” and the money train
has not stepped rolling in for Glu Mobile.
Until
now.....and it’s due to the price of celebrity fame that has not matured.
Glu Mobile goes
celebrity crazy - Katy Perry Pop fails to ignite twitter fandom
Glu
Mobile, eager to cash in on the success of their previous games, decided to
sign more celebrities of all stripes to make mobile games based on their
professions.
They
signed deals with the following celebrities in 2015 and 2016:
1. Celebrity
chef Gordon Ramsay
2. Jason
Statham
3. Nicki
Minaj
4. Britney
Spears
5. Katy
Perry
6. Kendall
& Kylie (Jenner)
Since
then their other celebrity games have flopped and they remain a loss-making
entity, with the trend expected to continue in Q3 and Q4 of 2017. This includes
the once highly vaulted Katy Perry Pop by Glu Mobile CEO Niccolo de Masi.
Already
they've shuttered Katy Perry Pop, removing it from the Google App Store
completely as noted in “Glu
Mobile seemingly shuts down ailing celebrity-focused game Katy Perry Pop”,
published November 25th, 2016 By Ric Cowley, PocketGamer.
No surprise here; the buzz on social media indicated that this was destined to be a flop since 2015 when it was first announced as noted in “Social Data Pointed To Glu Mobile's Katy Perry Flop” published December 2015, Seeking Alpha.
On
a good note, Twitter and other social media and could be used as a future
bellweather to detect if any of Glu Mobile's other play are destined for the
same fate.
Glu Mobile Celebrity
App flop - Fanbase are Fandom obsessed but Credit Card challenger
So
far only Kim
Kardashian: Hollywood is making money for Glu Mobile, with US$200 million
lifetime revenue barrier by the end of 2017 as analyzed in the article “Taylor
Swift Vs. Price Of Fame: Glu Mobile's Royalty Drag” published August 28
2017 by Jonathan Jordan, Seeking Alpha.
The
only wise decisions that Glu mobile has made aside from Kim Kardashian's Game
has been celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. To date, Glu mobile is set to make some
US$30 and Kendall & Kylie app are set to pull in US$20 million.
So
why is this happening?
Glu Mobile Celebrity
App flop - Fanbase are Fandom obsessed but Credit Card challenger
The
reason is simple; the fanbase for Kim Kardashian and Gordon Ramsay are older
Americans (age 28 to 35 +) who have credit cards and money to spend on their
favourite television celebrity.
Most
of Glu Mobile apps have a lot of content that you have to purchase with your
credit card........which can be a problem if you don't have one or you are
trying to avoid maxing out your credit limit, even if you are a loyal fan.
The fanbase of Jason Statham, Nicki Minaj, Britney Spears and Katy Perry are much younger (age 18 to 27) and are of the generation that likes Freemium apps where they play for fun such as Rovio Juice Cubes as noted in my blog article entitled “Rovio Juice Cubes is a Freemium In-App Purchase Gold Bar Mine - To get to Level 200, you have to become Goldfinger”.
Granted
in that particular app, you have to spend money to reach higher levels, as
those juice cubes are mighty tasty. But the challenge of doing so WITHOUT purchasing
anything is what make the game a engaging.
Add
to that the fact that hacks are available for games such a Rovio Juice Cubes
and other similar games means player play longer in a game that is high paced. Games
like Rovio Juice Cubes are focused on quick action and compelling and
challenging game play and are not feeding on the fandom obsession of young
girls.
So
they might wanna think twice about that Taylor Swift ...and instead go for
older celebrities with a older credit-card wielding fanbase.
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