Just over a year ago, Taylor Swift teamed up with mobile-games publisher Glu Mobile to launch The Swift Life, her own app for fans to connect with one another, share their own content, and get her latest news, photos and videos. Now it’s shutting down, which the official announcement suggests is because the app was tied to the promotional cycle for Swift’s last album ‘Reputation’, which it launched alongside.
“As the Reputation era comes to an end, our time on The Swift Life will be ending too,” explained the announcement. “The app is no longer available to download and on February 1, 2019, The Swift Life will shut down. Current fans have until this date to use the virtual currency they’ve accumulated.”
If the app had been a commercial success, it would surely be continuing beyond the promotional cycle for ‘Reputation’, but it’s been conspicuous by its absence from the financial presentations of Glu Mobile (which is a public company) in 2018. For example, in a table listing the company’s biggest apps in Q3 2018 by ‘bookings’ (in-app spending) the lowest individually-listed app, QuizUp, made $300k. The Swift Life isn’t listed, meaning it generated less than $300k that quarter.
The closure of The Swift Life appears to signify Glu’s pullback from musician apps, following disappointing performances for its Britney Spears, Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj mobile games.
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