'Super Mario Run' May Have Convinced Nintendo To Change Its Mobile Strategy

Nintendo’s “Super Mario Run” for iOS and Android may already be popular, but the game has already convinced the company to change its mobile strategy. Nintendo’s latest investor briefing has revealed that the company is still deciding on what type of payment model it wants to implement moving forward.

“Super Mario Run” has already been downloaded more than 150 million times worldwide, but only less than 10 percent actually paid for the full game. "Super Mario Run” is free to download, but users have to pay $9.99 to unlock the whole experience.

Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima admitted earlier this year that revenue from the game “did not meet our expectations.” Now, it looks like Nintendo has learned an important lesson, and it might be changing its mobile strategy for its future games.

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“We feel that Nintendo is still a newcomer in the smart-device business, and we have released three applications so far with different IPs and payment models,” Kimishima said during Nintendo’s Q&A session with investors. “Although no single model is clearly superior, we have been able to learn a lot. We want to keep thinking about how consumers would want to pay for content in our future smart-device applications.”

Kimishima also explained that there are varying economic situations where users are simply unable to pay for “Super Mario Run.” He said that it might be because of the price or the payment methods. “So in the future we will consider not only a single set price,” Kimishima said. “But other methods that incorporate a wider variety of elements to allow as many consumers as possible to play.”

Nintendo also released “Fire Emblem Heroes” and “Miitomo” for iOS and Android devices. Although “Fire Emblem Heroes” only has less than a tenth of downloads compared to “Super Mario Run,” users are actually spending more money on the game, Kimishima explained.

“Fire Emblem Heroes” is a freemium game. Hence, users can download and play the full game for free. Users have the option to pay for in-app purchases. The game allows users to buy Orbs, which cost between $1.99 and $74.99. Orbs are the in-game currency which can be used in replenishing stamina, upgrading castles and expanding the roster of characters.

Nintendo’s next mobile game is based on its “Animal Crossing” series. Kimishima said that Nintendo will apply everything it has learned from its past mobile games so that consumers will want to play the game for a long time, according to GameSpot.

Nintendo’s latest investors briefing also revealed that the company has no plans in bringing its games to the PC, according to Gamasutra. Kimishima explained that they are aware that many consumers play PC games, but Nintendo believes that the best way for them to move forward is through its “integrated hardware-software business,” which refers to the Switch, 3DS and its mobile games.

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This is also why Nintendo has released three mobile games for iOS and Android devices and is planning to release more in the future. The company believes that it will be able to reach more consumers through mobile than on the PC. “We believe that we can further expand our core integrated hardware-software business by providing our software on smart devices and increasing the number of consumers who experience our IP,” Kimishima explained.