Kim Kardashian: Hollywood dev buys fashion game specialist for $45.5M

San Francisco-based mobile developer-publisher Glu Mobile has acquired a controlling stake in fashion game specialist, Crowdstar, for $45.5 million. 

Glu announced the all-cash deal yesterday, and hopes the acquisition will help cement its place as the market leader in the fashion game genre.

The studio's interest in the market shouldn't come as a surprise. Back in 2014, Glu raked in record profits thanks to the performance of its freemium hit, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood -- which gets players to spend in-game currency on clothing and other fashion accessories. 

Glu hopes the Crowdstar deal will open the door to other celebrity partnerships, allowing it to build out ad revenue and expand its audience.

"Crowdstar is an innovative company that we have long respected, with a proven track-record of building highly social and interactive mobile community platforms," said Glu CEO, Nick Earl. 

"By joining forces through this strategic and complementary transaction, we plan to leverage Crowdstar's valuable IP and veteran team, which is based right here in the Bay Area, to continue creating exciting cross-platform content."