'Super Mario Run' Downloads High, But Price Causes Nintendo Shares To Drop

Despite 2.85 million downloads of Super Mario Run on its first day, Nintendo shares dropped on Friday as the long-awaited mobile game launched on iOS, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The game, released on Thursday, was available on the App Store for a steep price of $9.99 to unlock the full game, while the initial version of Super Mario Run is free. The game was announced in September during Apple’s iPhone event.

Super Mario Run sprinted to the top of Apple’s charts within hours of its release, but investors saw shares fall more than 4 percent on Friday.

The expectations for the game were high and followed the success of Pokémon Go. The creature-catching game was a hit and sent Nintendo’s share price to its highest level since 2010.

However, customers complained that the price for Super Mario Run was too high.

“While this game was never advertised as free to play, the paywall preventing people from completing the starting content is absurd,” said one customer in a review on iTunes.

Fans also went on social media to express their discontent:

Other problems for users is Super Mario Run’s required internet connectivity, which means no playing in the subway, and data, 370MB in storage is needed to download the app.

The game’s payment model was a disappointment for investors, since the first few levels of Super Mario Run are free and the rest are blocked off unless the user pays up. To rack up $2 billion in revenue, a large number of users (200 million, to be exact) would have pay the $9.99 price.

However, the game will still boost earnings for Nintendo. The company has two more games coming up, which might have a better revenue strategy than Super Mario Run. Another boost Nintendo should expect from Super Mario Run is an Android release date. While Super Mario Run for Android isn't available yet, th company has previously said it is planning to make Super Mario Run available for devices running Android.