Kim Kardashian’s hit mobile game app, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, has taken her to a world she’s unfamiliar with, but ready to conquer — the IT industry. On her reality TV show Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Kim herself admitted, “I think the tech world is a really prestigious industry to be a part of and since I really don’t come from that world, there are a lot of people that are skeptical.”
Since the launch of the game, though, she has attended her first tech conference in San Francisco, where she spoke at the <Code> Mobile Conference about social media, her video game and what her next big plan in mobile is.
Kim Kardashian: Hollywood launched last year in June with Glu Mobile Inc, a San Francisco-based publisher. According to Bloomberg News, “…the game is free to play, [and] the goal is to get users hooked on in-app purchases such as clothing or a burst of energy needed for traipsing through Hollywood.”
Kim Kardashian herself is a successful businesswoman who owns a number of fashion and beauty brands with her sisters Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian, such as DASH, Kardashian Kollection, and Kardashian Beauty. And with their reality TV show running into its 10th season now, it seems a lot of viewers can’t help but keep up with them. All this, coupled with the fact that she is quite the social media personality — she has 31.2 million followers on Twitter, 30.3 million followers on Instagram, and 24 million Facebook “Likes” — it’s undeniable that she does have a rather strong influence on users of the Internet.
How It All Started
In an interview with Adweek, Kim explained how she got started on creating her own mobile game:
“I had just had the baby (North West), and so I was being really choosy about what I was working on. I got a call from the company Glu Mobile to partner up and do a video game. I asked my husband (Kanye West), “What do you think of this? What would the concept be?” And he was like, “Oh my God, you have to do a video game? It’s so cool.”
“So, we went back and we came up with this really cute concept that I thought was relatable and very much like me. It had to be something that fit my personality.”
Gameplay
Kim Kardashian: Hollywood is an interactive adventure game revolving around Kim’s life. It sees Kim guiding celebrity players through Hollywood, and offering advice on how to become an A-list celebrity. Throughout the game, players must complete tasks which require repetitive thumb-tapping, and use up energy points. Energy may be replenished by waiting a period of time, or by paying real dollars.
Players must pass through lower levels of stardom — the E, D, C, and B-Lists — before reaching the high and mighty A-list. They must do so by completing tasks like dolling up, going for photoshoots, establishing business deals, going on dates and getting married. Players should also aim to get as many as 5 stars within the time limit of an event; once their time is up, the media will announce the results of the round, increasing or decreasing the size of their fandom accordingly.
Occasionally, bickering with Willow Pape (a.k.a. a made-believe Paris Hilton) forms one of the highlights of the game:
Given the sheer number of mobile games being developed each day, their popularity tend to taper off after a while. A lack of updates catering to the needs of players makes it even easier for the hype over a game to die down as quickly as it started. In a bid to remain relevant, Kim ensures that Kim Kardashian: Hollywood is constantly updated to reflect her current lifestyle. She’s even added her family members and pets into the app to star as game characters:
Review
The constant updates made to the game seem to be working: it doesn’t appear to be losing its popularity just yet, even among male players. Speaking to The Huffington Post late last year, author Kevin Fanning claimed to be a proud Kim Kardashian: Hollywood player, and that the app is “definitely not just a girl thing or woman thing.”
And I totally agree. As a player of the game myself, I must say it’s an extremely enjoyable and somehow addictive game. I find myself playing the game whenever I can, and don’t even mind waiting for my energy bars to be refilled.
With the success of Kim’s first mobile game, she has told Adweek that she is keen on creating more apps: “I love coming up with different app ideas, and I have a few more that are coming out. Once you get started, you have this creative bug of ideas that you want to get out. I feel like I’ve partnered with the right team, and now I have the creative outlet to make that happen. I’m happy that people are into it and are perceiving it well.”