This Mobile Game Maker Is Preparing a Cinematic, Star-Studded Super Bowl Spot

Mobile video game company Top Games USA Inc. has bought a 30-second ad in Super Bowl LI.

The Menlo Park-based group has produced a series of smartphone games in recent years, most prominently Evony: The King's Return.

Top Games has so far revealed very little about the ad itself, except that it will promote the same game and that it will star "a variety [of] celebrities whose appearance will bring a cinematic quality to the work and elevate how mobile games are marketed."

"The Big Game is the ultimate test of today's warriors, so it is a fitting place for us to reintroduce our free-to-play strategy game to the world," said CEO Lu Lu in a statement. "Having such spectacular talent literally leading the charge will help drive interest in our new title."

Independent San Francisco agency Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners will handle creative on the effort after winning the business in a recent review.

This will not be BSSP's first trip to the Big Game: It created last year's #DefyLabels MINI spot and collaborated with Publicis Seattle on a 2014 T-Mobile ad starring former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow. Nor will it be the first U.S. ad campaign for Top Games, which ran a self-produced spot promoting Evony: The King's Return last year.

The estimated price for a 30-second Super Bowl LI ad buy is more than $5 million.