This weekend, three mobile games will be played at the midfield of the "Super Bowl" in the United States, spending a total of about 4.5 million U.S. dollars to purchase 30-second advertisements. This investment is close to 30 million yuan. This intuitively demonstrates the astonishing ability of the mobile game industry to attract money, as well as its marketing ambitions.
Gaming ads land in Super Bowl
This year's Super Bowl advertising period will feature three game companies, one of which is Supercell of Finland, Machine Zone of the United States, and Ucool, which later became controversial. These companies spent $4.5 million per half minute to buy prime exposure time for the most-watched sports event in the United States. This move breaks the previous advertising pattern dominated by FMCG cars and movies, and marks that games, especially mobile games, have become a mainstream entertainment consumption and cultural phenomenon.
The business logic behind sky-high advertising prices
The Super Cup attracts more than 100 million American viewers every year. Its advertising itself is a kind of social event and the topic is highly involved. For game companies, this is not only an opportunity to present new content, but also a strategic investment to strengthen the high-end brand image and attract non-core player groups. An investment of tens of millions may seem staggering, but if it can increase the daily active users or revenue of a popular game by a few percentage points, the return may far exceed the advertising costs.
Solid performance from Finnish giant
"Clash of Clans", developed by the Finnish company Supercell, has placed advertisements. Since its launch in 2012, it has been at the top of the revenue list in many countries around the world. By the beginning of 2025, this game has firmly maintained its No. 1 position on the best-selling list of the U.S. Apple Store. This sustained profitability provides a solid financial foundation for it to dare to launch brand advertising in the Super Bowl. Supercell's goal in doing this is to convey its brand to a wider public group, rather than just targeting existing players.
A strong attack on domestic games in the United States
"War Game: Age of Fire" is produced by the American company Machine Zone and is the company's representative work. After the game was released in 2013, it quickly achieved success in the global market and has ranked among the top ten revenue lists in 46 countries and regions. In the past three months, its ranking on the U.S. best-selling list has remained in the range of second to fourth place. As a local company, this means that Machine Zone chose to advertise in the Super Bowl with American characteristics. The goal is to further tap the domestic market potential and also start a head-on competition with international competitors such as "Clash of Clans".
Copycat controversy and speculation
Ucool, the third advertiser that launched "Hero Command", encountered a lot of controversy because the gameplay of this game is very similar to the once popular "Dota Legend" in China. This is the second time the company has launched a large-scale TV advertisement. However, the performance of its games in the US market is far inferior to the previous two, and it ranks around 37th on the best-selling list. This aggressive marketing strategy of "burning money before taking the lead" has met with different views. It is seen as a speculative attempt to quickly open the market through capital bombardment and cover up the lack of product innovation, which has aroused different opinions in the industry.
Industry competition has entered a fierce stage
The competition between these three companies on the same occasion clearly revealed a new dimension of competition in the mobile gaming industry. This dimension has evolved from pure product competition and channel competition to an all-round war covering brand, capital and public influence. Super Bowl ads are like a mirror, reflecting the steady dominance of market-leading products and the eagerness of latecomers to try to disrupt the situation. The results of this sky-high advertising feast will become an important indicator of how the mobile gaming market will change in the next few years.
Regarding the fact that game companies are willing to invest a lot of money in the Super Bowl to seek attention, do you think this is more likely to be a sign of the healthy development of the industry, or is it a bubble situation spawned by capital?
