Nintendo’s shares dropped earlier this morning after early reviews and sales of their latest smartphone game, Super Mario Run, failed to impress investors. Analysts expressed their concern about the game. Here’s more from The Wall Street Journal.
Since the launch of Super Mario Run, Nintendo has seen a drop in shares with a five-day streak which saw its stock drop more than 16%, and 7.1% lower in Tokyo Stock Exchange trading on Monday.
The free-to-try title requires $9.99 to unlock all the features, but it was met with subpar reviews on the App Store regardless of it performing well in various regions, including the United States that saw it become the top-downloaded app in just seven hours after launch.
It’s easy to see how Super Mario Run had big expectations after the success of Pokémon GO that was developed by Niantic; however, analysts pointed out that Pokémon GO earns its revenue from micro-transactions and it also keeps things fresh with new content via updates. Meanwhile, Super Mario Run requires a one-time payment of $9.99 to fully enjoy the game, and if you’re wondering about additional content, a Nintendo spokesman said that they don’t have plans to release any, free or paid.
Here’s a quote from Ace Research Institute analyst, Hideki Yasuda:
“If you were hoping that Mario would perform like Pokémon, then Mario clearly didn’t achieve its mission. But that was placing expectations too high because the Mario game’s business scheme is so different from Pokémon.”
According to research company SuperData’s forecast, Super Mario Run would generate around $15 million in its first month. Pokémon GO and other Pokémon goods helped Nintendo with an operating profit of about $100 million from July through September when the smartphone game was released.
Former Nintendo game director Motoi Okamoto also said that poor reviews on the Apple platform may end up hurting the game’s performance on the upcoming Android version, but we can still expect to see one more revenue bump when it releases. He did, however, say that he finished Super Mario Run and how it was well thought out but its payment structure wasn’t ideal, as players might not warm up to the extra $9.99 after seeing it as a free download.
Super Mario Run is available on iPhone and iPad. The Android version will release in 2017.
