If you are a crippling mobile game fan or receive game advertisements where the ad is nothing like the actual gameplay, you may be familiar with the game Merge Mansion. Merge Mansion is a mobile puzzle game where you merge different items and tools that will repair the main character’s, Maddie, abandoned family estate.
This game became popular following a series of mysterious ads that implied that there is a large crime or mystery behind her family’s creepy mansion. More specifically, these ads included suggestions that Maddie’s grandmother may know more about the crime, potentially being behind it herself. The best-known scene from these ads is a clip of Maddie’s grandmother sitting in the back of a police car after being arrested. As the car drives away and Maddie watches, her grandmother presses the palm of her hand against the glass, the phrase “He is alive” or “You’re next” written on her hand.
So, what does Chilean-American actor Pedro Pascal have to do with this? Pascal has starred in the large productions of The Mandalorian and The Last of Us, reeling in both a fan base and a large sum of cash for his roles in each hit series. This is why it has shocked many to see Pedro Pascal in the newest Merge Mansion advertisements, starring as detective Tim Rockford as he tries to discover more clues behind the game’s implied secret.
Pascal’s character mostly focuses on the mysterious grandmother Ursula, who has become a suspect in this unnamed crime. Merge Mansion has released three short promotional videos featuring Pascal thus far, totaling under three minutes in content. However, these ads have over 15 million views on YouTube alone. It is safe to say that including star Pedro Pascal in their advertising efforts was a smart marketing move by the Merge Mansion team.
His appearance in these ads has caused a commotion online. It has been covered by the media and well-known commentary YouTuber Danny Gonzalez, who is known to have previously spoken on the Merge Mansion ads, has made an additional video focused on Pascal’s role in these ads. One of the current questions being asked by fans was how Merge Mansion managed to get Pascal to be in their advertisements, many not fathoming that a mobile game has the money to hire an actor as well-established as Pascal.
The game Merge Mansion supposedly makes about $10 million per month, meaning they had more than enough in their budget to hire Pascal. Pascal made roughly $600,000 per episode of The Last of Us, which concluded with nine episodes and 524 minutes of total runtime. Assuming Pascal was paid per minute of the show (not just the time he appeared on screen) and averaged each episode at 58 minutes, he would’ve made around $10,300 per minute of each episode.
Considering Merge Mansion has only released a little under three minutes of promotional videos featuring Pascal, it is obvious they had the budget to hire him. Monetized YouTube videos make between three and five dollars per 1,000 views. Assuming that their first ad release on YouTube, “A Twisted Game,” was monetized, the current 13 million views would’ve given Merge Mansion above $40,000 from that alone. That doesn’t include the future downloads and in-app purchases that they are sure to receive after the popularity they have received with Pascal’s appearance in their advertisements.
These ads are nothing short of a cinematic masterpiece, more similar to a movie trailer than a mobile game ad. I am not sure how much is in their cinematography or advertising budget, but they must’ve had the funds to afford Pascal. There is no doubt he was paid handsomely for his time with Merge Mansion. He additionally stated in a press release that working with Merge Mansion was “truly a unique experience” and that he had “so much fun” working with the team to bring the game’s lore to life.
Regardless of how Merge Mansion got Pascal in their ads, his performance was spot-on and increased the attractiveness of the game’s mystery. These advertisements were a surprising but not unwelcome change of pace from the typical strange mobile ads I receive. Merge Mansion has now included both Kathy Bates and Pedro Pascal in their promotional videos and, honestly, I cannot wait to see what marketing strategies they try next.
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