Nintendo holds the rights to some of the most prominent and nostalgic anime as well as game titles of all time. Now in a rush to capture the market, it has been working to combine these creations with latest hand-held technologies to produce something they can bank upon. But it seems that their plans to kickstart their mobile journey aren’t yielding results as well as they’ve hoped.
Post the initial traction surrounding Nintendo’s first-ever mobile game, Super Mario Run, the company is failing to sustain their userbase. It amassed a massive 40 million downloads in the initial four days of its launch and even became the highest grossing app in over 49 nations. It was expected to surpass the records that have been set by the company’s previous mobile offering Pokemon Go but in vain.
The rapid increase in downloads for the said mobile game was led by the United States with nearly 11 million downloads, which was followed by Japan with 7.5 million and U.K with a minimal 1.5 million. The data from App Annie reports that Super Mario Run generated $14 million in revenue, within the first three days of launch. This is way low compared to Pokemon Go, the company’s augmented reality-powered app, which gets people to act as trainers, walk about and catch their favorite monsters.
Available only in iOS, Super Mario Run still continues to be the most downloaded application in about 88 countries. But these numbers are for the free trial version of the game, which enables users to try out only a handful of levels — three to be exact. The users are then prompted to spend a massive $9.99 (yes! that’s massive for a mobile game!) to purchase the full-version of the game, which provides them access to all levels.
This hefty-priced full-version download is leading to a downfall in the game’s status on the market. Users (more specifically mobile gamers) are more accustomed to the concept of playing a free game with in-app purchase options that enable them to buy ceratin items to further the progress of their gameplay. Whereas Nintendo, on the other hand, have departed from this norm and decided to set a price tag for unlocking the full game. The nostalgic users, who enjoyed the first few levels, have lashed out against the company for lack of more free content.
Investors had previously hoped for a better response from the masses but seeing the lack of downloads and popularity as compared to their previous attempt, they’ve also started becoming wary of the situation. Nintendo’s stock prices took a nosedive last week but is now on a path of recovery — as can be seen in the 5-day chart attached underneath. They’ve now digested most of the negative news, reports Bloomberg. It has seen an uptick of over 5 percent in today’s trading due to the latest reports of Nintendo planning to release two to three games a year.
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