Grammy award winning pop star Taylor Swift is working with Glu Mobile Inc. to develop her own mobile game set to release later this year.
Swift has reported signed a licensing deal with Glu Mobile Inc., the games publisher who is also responsible for the mobile game Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. The game was hugely popular - it had already been downloaded 22 million times only three months after it was released. It also made $74m (£50.7m) in 2014, and made almost a total of $127m in revenues since it was first released in June of 2014.
In the game Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, players have to progress their celebrity status by getting fans and going from E-list to A-list.
Glu Mobile Inc. has not provided additional details in regards to the game or about Swift's involvement in it. They only said that it was a "multi-year partnership."
The game is set for release around December of 2016 and will be available for smartphones and tablets.
Glu Mobile Inc.'s celebrity clients include other notable names like rapper Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry and Britney Spears. British action star Jason Statham also has a game with them called "Sniper X," which is a action filled, first-person shooter game. More recently, the company signed up celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.
Not all of Glu Mobile Inc.'s games have been as successful as Ki Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, however. Katy Perry's game, "Pop," which launched in December of 2015 has not had any significant effect on the app store charts. Glu's chief executive Niccolo de Masi admitted as much, and attempted to explain its inadequate return on investment (ROI) by citing poor technical decisions and a newly hired team.
With their deal with Swift, Glu Mobile Inc. claim to be committed to deliver a product that will be a success with Swift's fans. "Taylor is arguably the most popular person in the world with over 220 million social followers," de Masi said. "We realize that Taylor and her global fan base expect a new and highly differentiated mobile gaming experience."
