Print&Features Editor Jess Parker assesses the gossip of the end of Kim Kardashian’s influential app – Kim Kardashian: Hollywood
The 8th of April 2024 will be a sad day indeed for pro gamers. Having already been removed from Android and Apple app stores, the beloved mobile game Kim Kardashian: Hollywood is shutting down for good, almost a decade after its release.
Users rise through the ranks from E-Lister to A-Lister, as they accompanied in-game BFF Kim Kardashian
Releasing 24 June 2014, Glu Mobile’s role-playing game saw its users rise through the ranks from E-Lister to A-Lister, as they accompanied in-game BFF Kim Kardashian through the trials and tribulations of virtual Hollywood fame. After ten long years, mobile gamers must mourn the loss of the iconic lifestyle simulation game as it enters its final month available.
The game was a cleverly addictive venture for the business mogul, asking users to check in regularly throughout the day to complete tasks and rise up the ranks: in hopes of obtaining Kim Kardashian: Hollywood’s coveted A-Lister status. The game is simple and instantly rewarding, enticing users of practically any age who have any interest in the constant cycle of fame-chasing that is contained within the app.
The app was quite the success in its heyday, with Forbes reporting a total revenue of $160 million in 2016. In the article, the star contrastingly explained: “This is fun for me. Now I’m coming up with Kimojis and the app and all these other ideas. I don’t see myself stopping.”
“I became really intrigued with the tech world. I started spending a lot of time in San Francisco. I realized this is really going to be the next cycle of my career and this is what I want to focus on.”
Kim Kardashian’s seemingly unironic praise for the tech world may appear vapid and baseless at first, however, Forbes reported that in 2016 the game made up 40% of the star’s $51 million annual income.
Now that the game’s demise is in sight, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood’s unexpectedly meteoric success feels like a fever dream. Gaming site Polygon decreed the mobile game to be one of the top 100 games of the decade (2012-2019), reaching number 86 on their list.
Users have less than a month left to collect as many stars as possible
In a statement with BBC Newsbeat, Kim Kardashian confirmed the shock shutdown, explaining that she will be “forever inspired” by the community that sparked via the game. Kim went on to explain, “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,” and expressed that although the mobile game “meant so much” to her, that it was finally “time to focus that energy into other passions”.
Recent screenshots of the game by current users appear to show a countdown, providing a constant reminder to lovers of the mobile app that the end is nigh. It is a shame that Glu and Kardashian appear to have thrown Kim Kardashian: Hollywood to the wayside, in favour of supposedly bigger and better things. What could be better than façading as Kim’s number one bestie throughout the day as you click to her every beck and call. Sadly, users have less than a month left to collect as many stars as possible, and maybe, just maybe, finally reach Kim’s coveted A-Lister status. That is of course, before this in-game accolade means even less than it does currently.
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