A SWIFT MOVE
Celebs are disappointing, but Glu baseball is ...
Kim Kardashian who? Glu Mobile, the video game maker behind the once redhot “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood” app, has a new potential sales sizzler on its hands — “Tap Baseball ’17.”
Shares of the San Francisco company have soared 29 percent in the three weeks leading up to the March 28 release of the MLB game, to $2.38 as of Wednesday’s close.
Glu shares added another 2.5 percent in extended trading — bringing its advance since March 6 to nearly 32 percent.
The game, which is scoring good reviews, also hit a home run with the signing of National League MVP Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs as the app’s public face through 2020.
“With good reviews for the app and a new baseball season just four days away, the timing couldn’t be better,” said Wedbush analyst Nick McKay.
The buzz surrounding its MLB game is hitting at the right time for the company previously known for its games featuring fashion and celebrities — with Kardashian, Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj and Kendell and Kylie Jenner getting the Glu treatment.
But the bloom is off the celebrity game app — at least for now. Sales of “Britney Spears: American Dream,” “Katy Perry Bop” and “Nicki Minaj: The Empire” didn’t meet expectations, according to the company.
“Kendall & Kylie,” a second Kardashian-linked enterprise, started out hot when it was released in February 2016 but has cooled considerably.
Glu switched chief executives last November, with then-CEO Niccolo de Masi becoming executive chairman and Nick Earl, the former president of Global Studios, assuming the top job.
Earl has said Glu will move away from celebrity and fashion apps and toward more traditional game fare like “Contract Killer,” “Diner Dash” and “Frontline Commando.”
Working with celebrities can be hot and cold — even for Kardashian, whose game was a mega-hit.
But sales slipped 40 percent last year and the huge royalties ate into profits.
The only celebrity game still in the pipeline is one built around Taylor Swift. Reception of the baseball game takes a little pressure off the Taylor app, slated for release later his year, said McKay, who has a neutral rating on Glu.
Management even gloated during a recent earnings call that a multimillion-dollar minimum guarantee to Swift later this year will be its last new-contract payment to a celebrity.
McKay said the stock’s recent rise also reflects investors’ becoming more accepting of management’s outlook.
“Guidance for 2017 was surprisingly high, meaning that profitability may suffer if the top-line performance does not meet management’s expectations,” he said.