Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is a free mobile role-playing game developed as a spin off from the Final Fantasy brand that itself dates all the way back to 1987. Reenergised by mobile, by October 2018 the app version had been downloaded over 35m times.

With momentum behind it, it is going for an even more mainstream audience by signing up Katy Perry to not only provide a new song for the game (‘Immortal Flame’ is her first new material since her Witness album in 2017) but also to appear in avatar form as a playable character within the game.

She is in the game as the literally titled Popstar Katy character, with her look based around one of her stage outfits worn during her most recent world tour. She is not, however, the first popstar to show up in the game, with Ariana Grande beating her to the punch back in January 2017, although that was a limited-time appearance. Game developer Alim says that other pop star avatars are planned for the game soon.

These games obviously use celebrity to reach a wider audience (and not necessarily a hardcore gaming one); but with tedious inevitability, some in the gaming world feel this is an unnecessary intrusion that somehow dilutes the game for them. In one game blog posting – entitled “Why is Ariana Grande in this game??” – someone called KirbyPhelpsPK wailed, “I saw the articles and stuff about her inclusion and I thought it was a joke at first. I honestly don’t have anything against her, but…why? Why is she here?”

The naysayers will, it seems, just have to suck it up. “Additionally, other character designs featuring Perry in her other attire will be available in future in-game events,” said publisher Gumi when announcing the partnership. While gaming platforms like Twitch want to collaborate with musicians who are known gamers, for certain mobile titles, celebrity will always trump any pursuit of credibility.