I'd be you hero baby. If I was only 40 years younger and 40 lbs. lighter.
Posted on 04/09/2015 11:11:23 AM PDT by drewh
Game of War: Fire Age has managed to gain quite a bit of popularity, not because of its amazing graphics, revolutionary gameplay or some sort of remarkable advancement in technology. Nope. Game of War gains more than $1 million a day all thanks to Kate Upton and some very effective television ads.
LA Times has a detailed breakdown of the mobile ad arena, where publishers are constantly battling against cultural trends and marketing methods to attract as many players as possible to their little known mobile games.
According to the article, Machine Zone Games has managed to run 9,000 television ads for Game of War: Fire Age. If the name doesn't sound familiar, perhaps the ad will look familiar to you, featuring model Kate Upton.
The above ad has been viewed more than 7.8 million times after airing during the Super Bowl back in February. However, the ads have been incredibly effective, garnering Machine Zone the number 2 spot on the top grossing mobile games list and the number 38 spot as the top grossing free-to-play game. Clash of Clans and Candy Crush Saga are still crushing it on the charts, but Game of War is right up there with them.
According to Think Gaming, Game of War is raking in more than $1.2 million a day. Not only that, but the coveted DAU estimates (for daily active users who log in and actually put some time into the game) hovers around 2.4 million. So roughly, you could translate that into nearly half of all players who log in and play Game of War each day could spend $1 and it generates Machine Zone some ample revenue.
However, all of this revenue and canvassing of television with ads of Kate Upton and the little mobile game that could has come at a heavy price. Nothing gained is earned for free. According to the LA Times article, ISpot.tv, a financial ad tracking firm, has estimated that Machine Zone has spent $80 million on those 9,000 television ad spots.
The article notes that more companies are pouring big money into mobile marketing on television to garner audiences. We've recently seen Liam Neeson of Taken fame appear in an ad for Clash of Clans to startling success and popularity, and companies like King Digital Entertainment and Zynga have been at the forefront of mobile gaming and advertising, racking up a lot of revenue along the way.
However, that's only a small subset of the mobile gaming market. There thousands of games flooding the mobile gaming that go completely unheard of or unseen. According to Gamasutra there are 500 mobile games launched every single day on Apple's iTunes app store. How many of those go on to make $1 million a day?
There are random successes like Flappy Bird, and even Rovio – the creators of Angry Birds – chalked a lot of their success up to luck as opposed to nailing down some secret, scientific formula.
For those who don't hit the big numbers, there are repeated stories of developers opting to leave the mobile gaming space altogether due to the difficulty of turning a profit with their games. While mobile games are extremely popular and are played by billions of people the world around, there's an issue of getting the game seen and keeping people playing – maintaining that profit-positive DAU margin.
Other firms have experimented with various forms of advertising to a modicum of success, but it looks like there's two things that really can't be denied in the case of Machine Zone's Game of War: 1) spending big works wonders for putting eyes on your product. 2) Sex sells.
“Other than extraordinarily large breasts that she is willing to overexpose and blond hair, what exactly does she bring to the table?”
Other than? Those are one of the primary drivers of human civilization. If not THE primary driver
That first ad was the best.
Other than extraordinarily large breasts that she is willing to overexpose and blond hair, what exactly does she bring to the table?
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LOL.
For the male demographic targeted by these ads, don’t you think that’s enough?
They appeared to be exposed just about right.
that’s plenty , see Farah Fawcett
Yep...Twins!
I was at BabySis’s place for the Super Bowl. We had, in sequence: (1) Katy Perry flying through the air like a super-hero, (2) an ad about not saying “throw like a girl” because it hurts girls’ self-esteem, and (3) the Kate Upton ad with her in armor riding a mighty steed and shooting people with arrows. BabySis observed, “Kinda a mixed message going on there, isn’t it?”
Observer: incredibly sexy figure.
Oh yeah... well... true... but... other than extraordinarily large breasts that she is willing to overexpose and blond hair, and incredibly sexy figure, what exactly does she bring to the table?
That browser game is very generic, nothing different from a thousand other games
GOD she is drop-dead fricking gorgeous. How can any man be a homo after looking at that?
Her boobs were Spectacular.
80 million in ads, 40 million for Upton=240 million in profits... :)
I'd be you hero baby. If I was only 40 years younger and 40 lbs. lighter.
“Will you be MY champion?”
Who can resist THAT invitation?
Even Eric Cartman would do back flips for that.
$20M each?
Boobies.
That’s all she’s got.
In America today, the huge mammary glands (which are, after all, simply specialized sweat glands) are quite enough.
Those are great somethings.
Oh my.
I didn’t know she was into video games; she doesn’t look like she has time for gaming. I wonder why teenage boys are so strongly influenced by her presence in this commercial.
**Observer: incredibly sexy figure.**
Well, at least she doesn’t look anorexic, like most models today.
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