Just like Princess Peach’s life, not everything is going well for Nintendo’s Super Mario Run release on iOS. While it has set a new download record of 40 million downloads in the first four days, it’s hit with a number of issues and criticisms. According to Reuters, users have been complaining over the US$9.99 price to unlock majority of the game so even if gross sales of Super Mario Run is at US$21 million, it has pushed the company’s share prices to a one-month low.
Sense Tower analyst Spencer Gabriel is quoted in the Reuters report saying that there are only around eight percent of those who try the game actually purchase it. Reuters reports only 25 million downloads instead of Nintendo’s official 40 million mark so this could even bring down that figure to around five percent. Reviews of the game in Japan are at a low 2.5 out of 5 stars, according to 1,095 reviews. According to reviewer Racing Game Guy, "This is a fee app disguised as a free app. You need to pay after playing for 10 minutes. I don't mind paying but the fee is a bit big. It's a disappointment after waiting with so much expectation."
Nintendo’s defense for the price is that it is meant “to reassure parents that they would be charged just once, not multiple times.” Another criticism about the game raised before is that you’ll need to constantly be online to play it. The Reuters report takes the angle of “no publicity is bad publicity” but we’re not sure if that is the case. It does get people talking about Nintendo’s properties and we have yet to see what all this buzz surrounding Super Mario Run will do for console and other sales of Nintendo products.
Source: Cult of Mac