Why King and Supercell spent nearly $500M marketing their games — and how you can spend way less

Over the last several months, King and Supercell have crossed the $1 billion revenue mark. Both companies are also close to achieving another milestone, which Nicholas Lovell at Gamesbrief spotted: the half-billion dollar marketing spend. With King spending more than $455 million on marketing its titles, and Supercell passing the $400 million mark last year, the huge outlays of these businesses in comparison to the rest of the market is notable.

Let’s examine how and why mobile gaming marketing spends have increased and what developers can do to avoid these costs.