Could a Kanye West video game rival Kim Kardashian's?
Kanye West is working on a video game. You read that right. The rap star, who’s branched out into other fields like fashion, is now developing a video game.
West dropped the news in a radio interview with “The Breakfast Club” where he was discussing his new song with Paul McCartney, “Only One.” The song is about his late mother, Donda West, who died following a surgical procedure in 2007.
The video game will feature his mother trying to get to heaven. Little is known about the game other than that. Yahoo Finance reached out to Glu Mobile (GLUU), the app developer behind Kim Kardashian West’s successful app “Hollywood,” to find out if they were working with West but did not hear back.
But West’s revelation got us thinking about all of the other successful stars who’ve tried their hand at games.
Kim Kardashian
West may have been inspired by the success of his wife, Kim Kardashian. She’s one of the most recent high profile celebrities to get into the world of games. She released an app “Hollywood” that has users try and gain fans and work their way into the A list.
Related: Kim Kardashian's app won't make near $200 million as popularity fades
Early estimates said the app was wildly successful and set to make $200 million. It hasn’t been quite that blockbuster yet; the app earned $45 million in the third quarter of 2014. But it’s still a big win for Kardashian – she takes home 45% of revenue.
Katy Perry
Glu Mobile has also tapped Katy Perry for a video game. The game was announced just days after Perry performed the half-time show at this year’s Super Bowl. There are no details about the game yet, but it’s safe to say it will encompass Perry’s unique style, one that’s famous for including cotton candy and other confections.
This isn’t Perry’s first foray into games; Sims created a Katy Perry game: The Sweet Treat. The game allowed players to “Sweeten your Sims' lives with delicious, Katy Perry-inspired items from a cupcake-themed guitar and candy playground equipment, to luscious cotton candy trees” for just $24.99.
Kate Upton
Supermodel Kate Upton is taking a different approach to the gaming world. Instead of launching her own game, she’s signed on to become the face of “Game of War: Fire Age,” developed by a fairly unknown app-maker Machine Zone.
Like Perry, Upton made a splash during the Super Bowl when she appeared in an ad for the game (price tag: $4.5 million). Upton appears in the game as well, offering users paid upgrades and often wearing sultry period costumes. She even spends some time in a bathtub, though we’re sure it’s for plot purposes.
Details of Upton’s pay package are confidential, but we know the company has set aside $40 million to advertise the game, an earmark that’s believed to include Upton’s salary.
Kevin Spacey
Lest you think starring in a video game is a lady’s game, you’d do well to remember Kevin Spacey. He’s the star of “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.” Unlike some of the above games that are newer developments for mobile, Activision's (ATVI) Call of Duty is kind of like the Godfather of games. It’s holds the Guinness World Record for " best-selling first-person shooter videogame series." It’s also won numerous fan polls.
In 2014, Spacey signed on to the game’s latest iteration, playing a private military contractor with dreams of world domination. He took the challenge of acting in a video game seriously, commenting in a New York Times profile about the potential he sees in the craft.
Again, details about Spacey’s pay don’t exist, but Call of Duty has topped $1 billion in sales for about the past five years so chances are he’s not doing the game just for the sake of the art.
Other Stars
If West does make a game, he will join a long list of other stars. In addition to those profiled above, many other musicians and actors have played in the gaming space (pun intended.) Lindsay Lohan's answer to Kardashian was largely panned as being overly simplistic at best. In 2002, Britney Spears released a video game “Dance Beat.” Before that, Mark “Marky Mark” Wahlberg partnered with Sega on “Make My Video.” Even the Beatles had their own version of “Rock Band.” On the acting side, Jack Black became enough of a video game star that he was part of a 2009 lawsuit between Activision and Electronic Arts (EA) over the development of a game he starred in.
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