'Super Mario Run' Sales: Nintendo's Mobile Title Amasses 78 Million Downloads, But Just 5 Percent Are Paying

It took years for Nintendo to finally embrace smartphones and tablets, but Mario finally made his debut for mobile devices in a post-Game Boy world with Super Mario Run. According to the latest financial report from Nintendo, the game has been downloaded nearly 80 million times since its release—though most people are still playing for free.

The first major mobile offering from Nintendo amassed 78 million downloads since debuting in the iOS App Store on Dec. 15, 2016. Over half of those downloads—40 million—came in the first four days of its release.

Nintendo’s earnings from smart devices nearly doubled in 2016 from the year prior, driven primarily by Super Mario Run. Nintendo reported $93 million in revenue generated by its titles appearing on smartphones and tablets.

Despite the increased earnings, Super Mario Run hasn’t had as much success converting users into paying customers as Nintendo hoped.

Just five percent of players opted to unlock the full game by paying the $9.99 in-app purchase. Nintendo had expected to break double digits on its conversion rate, getting at least 10 percent of players paying.

The figures may be disappointing to Nintendo, which saw Super Mario Run triple the amount of first-day downloads received by the smash hit mobile title Pokémon Go. The inability to convert those to millions of players into sales, and the limited experience the game provides for free, has led to Super Mario Run falling from the App Store charts.

Nintendo has yet to tap into the Android market with Super Mario Run but is expected to release the game for the popular mobile operating system in March 2017. Nintendo has already given users the ability to pre-register to download the title once it becomes available, and may be able to rekindle the flame the game caught when first released for iOS.

It’s in Nintendo’s best interest to figure out how to build upon its success on smartphones; the company has several titles expected to drop on mobile devices in the coming months.

Fire Emblem Heroes, a role-playing game set to extend Nintendo’s Fire Emblem universe is expected to be released on Feb. 2 for Android and iOS devices.

An Animal Crossing title is also in the works but has been pushed back in its release date to next fiscal year, meaning it could arrive as early as April 2017 or may not see the light of day until as late as March 2018.