Kim Kardashian set a trend with her Hollywood mobile game from publisher Glu. In her wake, developers have churned out celebrity-endorsed games featuring Britney Spears, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, and Katy Perry. Now, renowned DJ Steve Aoki is pulling a Kardashian.
Developer Cerulean Games produced the game BeatBomb featuring Aoki. It is a musical puzzler for iOS that is available for free right now on the Apple App Store. The app asks players to team up with a cute, cartoon version of the songsmith as part of an effort to return safely to Earth by surviving a space-cake(?) storm. This will have you exploding puzzle pieces by — you guessed it — matching three like items together. Mobile gaming is a $36 billion industry, and celebrities like Aoki — who has a major following on social media — can help developers reach a player base without having to spend a lot on marketing.
BeatBomb has 50 stages right now, and Cerulean is planning to add more in the future. In addition to the levels, the game also features 10 Aoki songs. That soundtrack is mix of the DJ’s previous hits as well as something new.
“I’m an IOS gamer so it was about time that I released my own iOS game,” Aoki said in a canned statement, likely while simultaneously scratching a record album and endorsing the check from Cerulean for his likeness. “I’ve been developing and road testing this new game BeatBomb, and I’m extremely happy with the way it came out.”
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While Kardashian kicked off the celebrity-endorsement trend on mobile with her Hollywood game from publisher Glu, the model has not seen a lot of repeat successes. The games starring Perry, the Jenner sisters, and Spears have not generated as much revenue or buzz as the original Kardashian game.
Aoki, however, is planning to use his music as a secret marketing weapon. The game features the aforementioned new song, which is an all-original composition that DJ wrote specifically for this game. If you’re a fan, all you have to do is download the free app to hear it … and then maybe fraction of you will convert into paying users that’ll turn the game into a financial success.
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