Nintendo News & Update: ‘Super Mario Run' Priced At $10, Release Date For The Mobile Game Set
"Super Mario Run" is set to be released by Nintendo on December 15, 2016, but the mobile game is not actually free and can be acquired at $9.99, via an in-app purchase. "Super Mario Run" is Nintendo's first Mario game on iPhone. Nintendo clarifies that players will not be hit with more payments.
To be launch simultaneously in 151 countries, "Super Mario Run" is exclusive to the iPhone this year while an Android version will be released in 2017. It is Nintendo's first smartphone game. According to the website Polygon, the $9.99 price tag is Nintendo's right to play by its own rules - especially when it comes to Mario.
The average price of the top 1,500 paid iOS games is $4, according to data provided by mobile analytics group Sensor Tower. "Minecraft: Pocket Edition," a very popular mobile game, is priced at $6, which is cheaper than "Super Mario Run."
Sensor Tower co-founder Oliver Yeh explains why he is not shocked by Nintendo's price point for "Super Mario Run". According to Yeh, the price is "line with what we were expecting, based on historic pricing trends of the company's games around a high perceived value." The pricing strategy is also is discussed by the website The Wired.
Nintendo's pricing strategy for "Super Mario Run" is part of the game developer's slower-pivot to a mobile-focused mindset, says Joost van Dreunen, founder of games market research agency SuperData Research. For van Dreunen, the new mobile game is " a remnant of Nintendo's inertia to fully embrace the current market landscape and go full free-to-play."
Game publishers have always struggled with pricing their products. One of them is Square Enix, which launched "Final Fantasy: 5" in 2013 with a $15.99 price tag. Square Enix has been forced to lower its price to adjust to the market. Its mobile-first game "Hitman GO" was released with a $4.99 price.
Yeh believes that Nintendo is still in its experimental phase for mobile, with only social media app Miitomo in its portfolio. He sees the price point for "Super Mario Run" being on par with an eShop-only title for 3DS console.
