Machine Zone (MZ)

Pioneer in high-spend mobile user acquisition and real-time strategy mobile gaming, once among the top-grossing mobile game publishers globally

Machine Zone (MZ) was a Palo Alto-based mobile gaming company best known for developing massively popular strategy games including Game of War: Fire Age, Mobile Strike, and Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire. Founded in 2008, MZ became one of the most prominent mobile game publishers of the 2010s, distinguished by its aggressive and high-spend user acquisition campaigns — most notably its Super Bowl commercials featuring Kate Upton and Arnold Schwarzenegger — which made it a significant player in the mobile advertising ecosystem as both a major advertiser and a technology innovator. Beyond gaming, MZ developed proprietary real-time communication and data infrastructure technology that underpinned its games' massive multiplayer environments. The company invested heavily in machine learning and big data capabilities to optimize player engagement and monetization, and its user acquisition strategies were considered industry-leading benchmarks for mobile performance marketing. At its peak, MZ was reportedly generating over $1 billion in annual revenue and was valued at approximately $5 billion, making it one of the most valuable private gaming companies in the world. In August 2020, AppLovin acquired MZ for approximately $500 million, a significant markdown from its peak valuation. Under AppLovin's ownership, MZ operated as a subsidiary contributing to AppLovin's gaming portfolio alongside other studios. On June 30, 2025, AppLovin divested MZ to Tripledot Studios, a London-based casual mobile game developer, marking another transition for the storied gaming brand. MZ's significance in AdTech stems primarily from its role as a pioneering large-scale mobile performance advertiser and its development of sophisticated in-house UA and data technologies.