Celebrity-centric mobile games don’t have much long-term appeal among gamers. Taylor Swift’s effort, called The Swift Life, shut down after just one year. Britney Spears, Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj didn’t make it either.
This makes Kim Kardashian’s good fortune in this area all the more remarkable. For more than 10 years, gamers have been logging into Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. But next April, the game will stop for good.
Publisher Glu Mobile (now owned by Electronic Arts) has shown plans to finish the game. The app has already been removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store and will no longer be playable after April 8.
The free-to-play game, introduced in 2014, allows players to seek fame in a virtual Hollywood, with Kardashian acting as a mentor in the game. Players would book modeling and acting jobs, make public appearances, and go on dates. They can also acquire new outfits as in-game currency.
The game’s style worked, grossing $1. 6 million in its early days and topping the mobile sales charts. In two years, its sales exceeded $156 million.
“I’m so grateful from the bottom of my heart to everyone who has loved and played Kim Kardashian: Hollywood in the past 10 years,” Kardashian told TMZ. “This journey has meant so much to me, but I’ve realized that it’s time to focus that energy into other passions. I want to thank the Glu team and the many people behind the scenes who have worked diligently on making it a success. I will be forever inspired by this community that we built together.”
The game may be about to disappear, but the player base is still dedicated. Even before Glu officially announced the end of the game, but once it no longer featured the normal updates, he started a petition to bring it back. Other players are making plans to wear a costume for the game’s “funeral” in the coming months.