Glu’s Niccolo De Masi spreads his bets across the A-list celebrities

Glu Mobile was founded in 2001, and it has earned its place as one of the biggest and best-known mobile game companies. But it saw huge success with the launch of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, in 2014. That put the company on the map, particularly with A-list celebrities and their followers. And now the company is starting to sign up more celebrities, such as Britney Spears, as the stars of future games.

Niccolo De Masi, chief executive of Glu, is the architect of this strategy. He’s going deep in celebrity games, and he wants to dominate that sector, and sign deals with celebrities who have more than a billion followers by 2020. Already, the company has deals signed with celebrities who have 650 million followers. At the same time, Glu is going to keep investing in its other games such as Deer Hunter and Racing Rivals. It’s quite a balancing act, but De Masi thinks that he can pull it off and keep everyone happy: fans, investors, celebrities, and employees.