The Kim Kardashian West brand is a seemingly unstoppable money-making machine.
The Kim Kardashian West brand is a seemingly unstoppable money-making machine. The reality TV star, who rose to fame with the show Keeping Up with the Kardashians , has jumped from enterprise to enterprise, making millions off fashion, perfume and beauty products. Not only that, but Kardashian West has made a huge chunk from endorsement deals.
Kim Kardashian West has given her name and reputation to a huge variety of brands, from clothing lines to liqueurs and diet products, and even raked in an incredible $18 million in licensing deals from her wedding to second husband Kris Humphries. However, it looks as though one of her most recent ventures is set to make that — and her yearly earnings of $28 million — pale in comparison.
According to, Kardashian West will earn a whopping $85 million from mobile game Kim Kardashian: Hollywood — and that’s just this year. The game, a free-to-play iOSand Androidtitle that lets players try to make their way to the top of the world of celebrity — and pay through microtransactions for the privilege — is expected to make $200 million this year, and Kardashian West will get 45% of the net profits.
The game was created by Glu Mobile, a developer that has made early mobile ports,mobile titles and a mobile version of the original. Glu Mobile can be very happy with the performance of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood — even though $85 million will go to the star attraction. After all, Glu Mobile’s shares are up 42% since the game’s June 25 release. The title has over 40,000 five-star reviews on Apple’s App store, and it’s jumped as high as second in Apple’s free-to-play charts.
But where exactly is that $200 million coming from? Apparently the freemium model of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood is working better than that of Dungeon Keeper , with that huge projection expected from both in-game advertisements and purchasable items. Kardashian West herself gives players in-game advice over how to act and what to buy, often with nods to her own life. “Dating another celebrity will make you more famous,” says her in-game counterpart.
It’s not the first time that mobile games have been tied to external franchises. Recently, Syfy Vice-President Jeff Li announced that there would be an endless runner tie-in to the Sharknado sequel— again on a free-to-play basis. The market is also full of movie tie-ins — in fact, Glu Mobile, the creator of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood , is also responsible for the Robocop and Hercules mobile titles.
However, the mobile tie-in is hardly an excuse to print money any more. According to a study in April of this year, only 2.2% of free-to-play users actually pay for content. Not only that, but mobile titles often see an extreme drop-off in sales and earnings. Even the Zynga, creator of Farmville , has struggled with diminishing returns. It remains to be seen whether Glu Mobile will be able to buck this trend.
Kim Kardashian: Hollywood is out now for iOS and Android.
Source: TMZ