Machine Zone spent $5m on Schwarzenegger Mobile Strike Super Bowl ad

Game of War developer Machine Zone has spent big on a Super Bowl ad for the second year running.

Last year the company made a splash with the $4.5m it spent to secure a slot for its now infamous Kate Upton short. VentureBeat reports that this year that figure was upped to $5m, for which it secured a 30-second slot.

This time the game in question was war strategy title Mobile Strike. Arnold Schwarzenegger was back on duty to promote the title.

The site reports that it now costs mobile publisher an average of $4.23 to acquire a new player – a number that’s going up, primarily due to increased marketing costs. And presumably last year’s ad must have proved a wise investment for the company.

Other advertisers who paid to be involved in this year’s ad race included Nintendo (Pokemon), Amazon (its Echo device), Marvel (Captain America: Civil War), Beyonce (her new world tour), Disney (The Jungle Book), Independence Day: Resurgence, Snickers (featuring Willem Dafoe), the new Jason Bourne film, Coca-Cola (which paid to use Hulk and Ant-Man), Fitbit, Michael Bay’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, LG (featuring Liam Neeson), Budweiser, Audi, Honda, Mini (with Serena Williams), Adobe, Doritos, Pepsi, X-Men: Apocalypse, Mountain Dew, Hyundai, T-Mobile and PayPal.

Here’s Machine Zone’s Mobile Strike ad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwCqQ6S19gA

And last year’s Game of War one: