Nintendo is mainly recognized for developing gaming consoles and titles for those systems. However, toward the end of last year, the company released its first mobile game in the form of 'Super Mario Run.' the game became an instant hit as it managed to bring the popular characters from the Mario franchise to smartphones and tablets. According to a report by The Verge, in a recent earnings report, Nintendo announced that the game had witnessed more than 200 million downloads since it released in December 2016. However, the company also revealed that it was not totally pleased with the amount of revenue which 'Super Mario Run' has generated.
Downloads and revenue for 'Super Mario Run'
Even though there were 200 million downloads for the game worldwide, Nintendo's home country Japan, accounted for just 20 million of those downloads. This means that around 90 percent of the downloads resulted from overseas. In April, Nintendo claimed that the game had been downloaded 150 million times. Thus, it seems that over the following six months, the mobile game has been downloaded 50 million times more.
'Super Mario Run' follows a free to start policy. Players can download the game for free and play the first few levels without having to shell out cash. However, they have to pay $10 to access the remaining levels of the game. It seems that this model of revenue generation has not worked in favor of Nintendo, as only a small fraction of players who downloaded the game seem to have paid the $10 to unlock all of the levels.
Nintendo claims that it has learned a lot from the development of the game when it comes to the revenue generation in the mobile gaming sector.
This is why 'Fire Emblem Heroes', another mobile game from Nintendo this year, followed a different policy. 'Fire Emblem' is free to play but includes microtransactions. Players can access all of the levels in the game but can speed up their progression by spending real-world money.
The company's latest mobile release, 'Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp' also features a similar form of microtransactions and in-app purchases to increase the speed of progression for players.
What is next for the game?
Nintendo did not confirm future updates for the game but hinted at the possibility that the company would not give up on the title.
During the earnings report, the company claimed that the mobile game would become the 'definitive Mario application' for smartphones and tablets. In September, the company introduced the version 3.0 update to the game which introduced several new levels and challenges. It is possible that such an update for the game may arrive in the future as well.
