'Super Mario Run' Tops 2017 iOS Charts as Nintendo Joins Mobile Games Market
"Super Mario Run" is a good indication of what Nintendo is capable of when it moves into a gaming segment. Apple has just published its App numbers for 2017, and "Super Mario Run" has managed to climb the top spot in not one, but two categories in just a year.
The game had a strong start when it first launched for the iOS store on Dec. 15 last year, going on to break the 150 million downloads mark, and then 200 million. When new downloads of "Super Mario Run" were starting to wind down by fall of 2017, a timely 3.0 update in September gave a huge boost to its numbers once again.
"Super Mario Run" would go on to grab the first place in the top 20 free games category for iPhones. While Nintendo has set out to design "a new kind of Mario game that you can play with one hand," the game has nevertheless gone on to win the top spot for the iPad category as well.
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While "Super Mario Run" was not the financial homerun Nintendo hoped it would be, it's still easy to see how results like these would encourage the company to move in to the mobile gaming space.
The company now wants to work with more mobile game developers to keep churning out games like "Super Mario Run" and "Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp," according to the Wall Street Journal via Gamespot.
Nintendo is playing catch-up, too, and it believes it can develop and launch more games for Android and iOS by working with mobile game studios. The company already bought a ten percent stake in DeNA, although Nintendo is looking for more of a partnership than an investor deal with any new studios they will be working with.
Reports have come up saying that Nintendo is already speaking to "Puzzle & Dragons" maker GungHo about such a team-up. If this trend holds, gamers on Android and iOS may soon see more Nintendo characters and franchises coming to phones and tablets sooner rather than later.
