Kim Kardashian is one of the four horsemen of the App Store apocalypse
Kim Kardashian's has an app -- which should have been the first sign that we were approaching a dark time in the App Store -- and that app is so successful that it is on its way to raking in a total of $200 million in revenue by the end of the year. What in the name of Angry Birds is happening to the App Store?
First, let's talk about the app itself: In Kim Kardashian: Hollywood your only real goal is to become famous. Not actually famous, just fake app famous. You do this by buying goofy clothes, getting clingy with other celebrities, getting fans for doing absolutely nothing meaningful, and -- of course -- by spending real-world money on in-app "Star Packs" in order to do these things. It's about as much of a "game" as filing your taxes would be if that activity somehow included poorly-drawn cartoon characters.
The app appears to be quite the addictive experience, as many of the App Store reviews bemoan the impact the game is having on users' bank accounts. Tracie Morrissey from Jezebel knows this feeling well, having recently admitted to blowing a whopping $500 on in-app purchases.
It would be nice to think that celebrity alone isn't enough to drive an app to massive financial success, but that seems to be exactly what's happening with Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. There's really no reason to even consider playing it unless you possess and almost unhealthy adoration for the titular gal, and that alone has been enough to suck millions and millions of dollars out of customers.
If you have the money to burn, I can't really judge you for blowing it on an app -- I've been known to drop embarrassing amounts of cash on old video games, and that's not much different. But if you find yourself writing an App Store review blaming the app for the fact that you can't pay your rent, you might want to seek professional help.
