Nintendo gets less revenue from Super Mario Run than expected

The turnover that Nintendo achieves with its smartphone game Super Mario Run is lower than the Japanese game company had expected. Fire Emblem Heroes, which works with microtransactions, yields more money. However, Nintendo says it does not prefer that payment model.

Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima says in an interview with Nikkei that Super Mario Run was initially enthusiastically received and got off to a strong start when the game came out for iOS. However, the game turned out to yield less money than the company had expected and that is due to the payment model, according to Nintendo, where players can buy additional levels with one in-app purchase of 9.99 euros. The game is also available for Android this week.

Nintendo is getting more revenue from its mobile game Fire Emblem Heroes. It appeared in early February on both Android and iOS. The Android version has been downloaded between 1 and 5 million times. Fire Emblem Heroes is free, but uses microtransactions. In the game, players can spend from 1.99 to 74.99 euros per purchase. Nintendo will not disclose exactly how much money will be coming in through the games, but will make it clear that the Fire Emblem Heroes freemium model will bring more financial success.

Despite this, Nintendo has no ambitions to shift its focus to games based on microtransactions. Fire Emblem Heroes is an exception and the revenue model of Super Mario Run is preferred, Nintendo tells Nikkei.