Square Enix’s first title aimed at a worldwide, mainstream audience has just called on the help of a worldwide, mainstream pop sensation—Ariana Grande.
The “Side to Side” songstress and self-proclaimed gamer girl announced on Twitter today that she will be featured as a character in Final Fantasy Brave Exvius.
The adorable sprite features Ariana dressed in her famous leather bunny ensemble with her usual high ponytail trailing behind her.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOvV7qMFAC7/
It’s a pleasant surprise but not necessarily something that’s particularly shocking considering Ariana’s past business endeavors and Square Enix’s intentions for the mobile RPG game.
Let’s start with Ariana.
Most people know Ariana for her singing career and her run as a Nickelodeon star. What fewer people may realize is that she recently teamed up with Brookstone to release a stylish pair of cat ear Bluetooth headphones.
If the headphone design looks familiar to you, it’s because the headphones are essentially a limited edition version of the Axent Wear gaming headphones that feature the same cat ear design.
This partnership served as a hint that Ariana might have her eye on products in the gaming industry and it seemed to set her apart from the other Nickelodeon stars who had video games based on their shows.
Victorious: Time to Shine came to the Xbox 360 Kinect while Victorious: Hollywood Arts Debut was released for the Nintendo DS back in 2011.
It was then that Ariana first opened up about her interest in gaming during an interview with Girls’ Life.
“I’ve always been a huge gamer, and now I get to be a part of Victorious: Time to Shine and Victorious: Hollywood Arts Debut, which in itself is just too cool for words,” she told the magazine.
Teaming up with Square Enix is proof that she wasn’t just saying she was a gamer girl for the sake of promoting the new game releases.
For Square Enix’s side of things, they have always made it clear that Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is a mobile game intended to attract a mainstream audience.
What better way to bring in users who aren’t necessarily familiar with Final Fantasy than to have the current queen of the pop charts as a part of the adventure?
It’s a brilliant move for everyone involved.
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is available to download worldwide for both iOS and Android devices and it will be interesting to see if Ariana’s announcement will cause a sudden surge in downloads.
What we do know already is that the news has been shared with her 92 million Instagram followers and her 43 million Twitter followers so if there was ever a year for gaming to really break into the mainstream, 2017 is certainly giving it a fantastic start.
Published: Jan 1, 2017 08:48 pm