Glu Mobile continues to expand its successful business model of creating original mobile games in tandem with established celebrities with huge social media followings. Award-winning chef and reality TV star Gordon Ramsay is the latest “brand” the mobile game company is collaborating with.
While the Scottish-born chef has opened restaurants around the globe, he’s had a string of successful TV shows in the U.S. (Hell’s Kitchen, MasterChef, MasterChef Jr., Kitchen Nightmares, and Hotel Hell) and in the United Kingdom (Gordon Behind Bars,Ultimate Cookery Course, Gordon’s Great Escapes, and Gordon Ramsay: Shark Bait). He also has amassed a social media audience of over 10.5 million followers (5 million on Facebook, 2.87 million on Twitter, 1.2 million on Instagram, and 1.47 million on YouTube).
Niccolo de Masi, Glu Mobile Chairman and CEO
Niccolo de Masi, Glu Mobile Chairman and CEO, explains why the cooking genre remains hot and how Ramsay’s game could attract new male gamers in this exclusive interview.
How popular is the cooking video game genre?
We’ve been in the cooking business for a long time, ever since our PlayFirst acquisition in August 2014. Over 10 years, the Diner Dash and Cooking Dashfranchise has had over 750 million installs across PC, mobile, and other platforms. We’ve seen substantial growth since making Diner Dash free-to-play in late 2014 and then Cooking Dash in mid-2015. Cooking Dash is one of our top three games at the moment.
What impact do you see Gordon Ramsay having on this genre?
The cooking game demographic is very broad across both male and female players. We’re looking at this Gordon Ramsay partnership not only growing the male base, but also attracting chefs and foodies and restaurant fans. Gordon has over 10 million social followers and has had 10 TV shows, so he brings a huge audience.
One in five adults is watching a cooking program almost daily in the U.S. and we expect this phenomenon to go from strength to strength for our game. We see this audience engaging with Gordon’s game and it becoming a long-term persistent annuity game for us.
How are you investing in this game?
We’re investing in a new team and new studio to grow our capacity in cooking games.Gordon Ramsay Dash will feature a new engine in the simulation category. The exact timing is not nailed down yet, but it will probably launch this summer in Q2 or Q3.
How is Gordon involved in this game?
Gordon is the alpha male of the culinary world. No chef has as many social followers. He has the biggest name recognition. His personality will come through in the game – both the good and the scarier Gordon will be part of the product.
The game will feature voiceovers and video clips of Gordon, who we have creative meetings with frequently. He’s defining elements like the visuals of the actual foods, the restaurants, the sound effects, and of course his image and likeness. We’re off to a good start with him. He’s very enthusiastic. He gets the game genre. He understands this is another channel for his personality and brand to reach fans who want to engage with his unique persona on demand whenever they want it. He’s also going to help with the promotion of the product.
How will Gordon be involved within the gameplay experience?
We’re developing a new engine. It’s not going to be recognizable compared to anything else out there. Gordon has a wide range of support in this game as your hospitality and business manager. His support will range from friend and mentor to more aggressive and antagonistic. I think his brand is going to pull in a male audience in. He naturally appeals to a broader demographic — not only men, but women as well.
What’s the global appeal of Ramsay?
Ramsay has been syndicated globally. He’s done especially well in the U.S. and the UK. His demo will make the most money in English, but his restaurants are everywhere from Tokyo to Dubai. Food-based games can be global, but we’re expecting most revenue to come from English-speaking countries.
We’ve seen Arnold Schwarzenegger and Liam Neeson promoting mobile games in TV commercials of late. Does partnering with a Gordon Ramsay bypass the need to go that route?
We’ve done TV commercials in the past and we’ve found the results to be neutral. Gordon will use his full range of promotional powers, which creates less of a need to do TV commercials. We’ll tap into his ability to be on talk TV shows and perhaps integrate the game into his own TV shows. We’ll see how it goes. He’s a TV show food superstar, so there’s already brand recognition out there.
Arnold hasn’t had a TV show and he hasn’t had a big successful movie recently. I think a TV show personality will go further and better than movie stars when it comes to games. People like the concept of tuning in. It’s part of your behavior, and that’s what we want for a game. We want people to come back and play.
Is the business deal with Gordon Ramsay similar to the Katy Perry and Kim Kardashian mobile game deals?
All of these deals have a revenue share. The celebrities don’t own equity in the game, so they’re technically licensing deals. But Ramsay has a meaningful full partnership in the game.
Why do you think cooking games remain so popular?
Everything that’s popular in popular media can work in gaming. Farming, hunting – our Deer Hunter franchise has over 150 million installs – and cooking. When you reach low-concept ideas like that with mobile games you gain traction with a broad popular interest. We’re all hard-wired to find these things interesting, particularly where the food comes from and how it’s prepared.
We’ve seen growth in TV and media across the food industry. The mechanic we’re using in this new game is time-based and it’s a restaurant simulation, and that broadens out its appeal to people interested in what it’s like to run a restaurant, which is the aspiration of anyone who watches Ramsey’s TV programs around the world.
What does adding Gordon Ramsay to this already popular cooking genre do?
We knew Cooking Dash and Diner Dash were successful in getting users in the front door and retaining them. So we have a successful game and we’re turbo-charging that with a brand, which we hope leads to upside. You can’t have a successful game if the underlying game doesn’t perform strongly.
We have the best engine in Cooking Dash, we’re improving that engine, and we’re adding a broader demographic. Based on our survey data, there is expansive audience to be had on the male side and across the Gordon Ramsay TV show audience.
