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No competition: Machine Zone owned the US UA battlefield in Q4 2015

Sensor Tower reveals the damage

No competition: Machine Zone owned the US UA battlefield in Q4 2015

While there's plenty of honest discussion about who makes the best or the most innovative mobile games, when it comes to which developer is the best end-to-end operator of F2P mobile games-as-a-service, there's no debate.

It's Machine Zone.

Not only has the secretive US developer built two extremely hardcore games - unplayable for most people, yet designed to be almost limitless in terms of the amount of money you can spend - it also has the most focused marketing team.

One UA partner (and let's face it, Machine Zone spends with almost everyone) told us that it has by far the most sophisticated marketing, installation and retention machine in terms of the KPIs it tracks, not to mention the amount of money it spends.

Something it demonstrated at the Super Bowl (again).

Big spender

It's a statement underlined by some interesting research from US market intelligence outfit Sensor Tower, which has released a report about mobile advertising in Q4 2015.

Looking at the Top 20 Facebook advertisers in the US, the top game advertised at #2 was Machine Zone's Mobile Strike, with Game of War at #5.

NB: Supercell's Boom Beach was at #4.

Similarly, looking at AdMob advertisers, Game of War was #3, with Mobile Strike at #5.

Continuing the trend, even on Apple's almost defunct iAd, Game of War was #1 with Mobile Strike at #4.

Want more proof?

On YouTube, Mobile Strike was #2, and Game of War was #3.

Even on the female-friendly Instagram, Mobile Strike was #8 (albeit with Boom Beach at #7).

The only platform Sensor Tower tracked that Machine Zone didn't rank on was Pinterest.

Interestingly, though, while Machine Zone wipes the floor with Supercell in terms of US spend, Supercell has been more active internationally, with Sensor Tower highlighting its excellence in localisation of game content and creative marketing.

You can see Sensor Tower full report here

Contributing Editor

A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.