Nintendo has revealed that their new Super Mario game will be released on December 15th on the App Store for iPad and iPhone downloads. The game has a price tag of $9.99 which is a noticeably steep price for a mobile app. This game will be Nintendo’s second franchise to enter the realm of mobile gaming, but is very different than the previous Pokemon Go app. Pokemon Go was released on July 6th, 2016 and had an overwhelming response from the public.
For many, Nintendo’s approach to the mobile market was a surprise but to me, and probably others with a Nintendo-filled childhood, it seemed sort of inevitable. Nintendo has always been the leader in handheld gaming, with popular systems like the GameBoy and the DS. Some of their franchises, such as Mario and Sonic, are very popular globally. Nintendo noticed the $38 billion dollar industry and made a wise business choice to dive into the waters, using their popularity to boost sales. If another company made a game where you walked around and caught fictional creatures it may have done alright, but Nintendo’s long-time fans of the Pokemon franchise devoured the content and the app broke a multitude of records.
While Nintendo is not predicting nearly as much success for Super Mario Run, the app is sure to make waves in the app industry. My only concern for the game is the steep price tag. While $10 for a video game is traditionally not expensive, maybe even cheap, the price stands out in the App Store. I don’t work for Nintendo and I’m sure they have experts for this but I think if the price is even cut in half, a lot more people would be willing to purchase the game. They must know how dedicated their fan base is and how we’ll probably buy a Super Mario game for the iPhone regardless of the price.
The source link has more information on the topic with quotes from Nintendo executives and outlines the future of Nintendo.
Source: https://www.thestreet.com/story/13894575/1/what-december-s-super-mario-run-release-means-for-nintendo.html
Seeing a video game app for 10 dollars might seem ridiculous at first, but stuff like this just blows up. When you see a Mario game come out by Nintendo people go crazy for it. So may kids play apps games nowadays and honestly I don’t think they care how much it cost. This reminds me of Pokemon Go even though it wasn’t free it was just something that will catch fire real fast. Imagine if Pokemon Go had a price Nintendo would make so much more money on it, because the demand will still be high. Nintendo will make a fortune on this and you can see more games like this be brought out by them .I can see Nintendo expanding there app business to the extreme with the success they’ve had. If it wasn’t Pokemon Go Nintendo would be a failing company so I don’t see them going off this trend with doing game applications for mobile phones or tablets.
It’s so odd to me that everything has integrated to our mobile cellular devices now; and now, separate gaming devices such as the D.S. and GameBoy are no longer needed. You no longer need a computer to access internet services. You no longer need an actual camera to take photographs. Everything now can be done from your mobile smart phone device which is amazing; however, it also contributes to our cell phones being our biggest distractions. Now, with such a major gaming company hopping on the bandwagon by offering their services from mobile devices, I feel as if this marks the beginning of a huge transition of gaming all together to go mobile. As in the same way online streaming of movies ended Blockbuster and caused a decline in purchases of actual physical, personal copies of films, this could also lead up to the same fate for Game Stops. Which is sad.
Scrolling through blog posts today and discovering this actually led me to do a little research on video games that have been coded for ios and sold on the app store really almost shocked me.
I am an avid gamer and I have been since almost 5 years old. I can remember playing my gameboy, gameboy color, gameboy sp, all the way up to my new 3ds with facial recognition software and multiple cameras for 3d picture taking. The hand held journey has been a long one in my eyes (my whole life actually) and now I’m seeing a shift to the IPhone.
In the research I did I found that so far the most prominent franchise to have their games on the app store is actually the Final Fantasy series by Square Enix Inc. Their most recent game appeared on the app store at a price point of $20.99 and while I understand an earlier comment stating that $10 would be a lot for an app (they did say that was cheap for a video game) it really is too small in my opinion. The amount of time it takes to program a video game, even one as simple (seemingly) as Mario runner is enormous. It takes coding from multiple groups, with different styles artistically in how they code, to somehow mesh into a perfect game with no bugs (which almost never happens mind you but they do get close).
What a long rant comes down to is that this software is incredibly complex and took a team of people over months of time to put together, followed by testing, rewriting, more testing, even more rewriting and finally a finished project. With that said I think two things will happen in the future: apps that push the envelope in terms of what an iphone or android can do will appear more often and the creative results will be astonishing, and more companies will jump on the bandwagon and create a new section of the app store for complex, intricate, and sometimes artistic games that will be what some view to be overpriced for an app.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/02/09/final-fantasy-9-available-now-on-ios-and-android
https://www.thestreet.com/story/13894575/1/what-december-s-super-mario-run-release-means-for-nintendo.html
Very interesting article! The title definitely caught my eye as I had to read to bring back memories of my childhood. I actually had no idea that Nintendo was releasing a new Super Mario game to the app store!
I totally agree about the fact that the price is very steep. Personally, I will not be buying the game simply for the price. As fun as it would be, I get bored of games very quickly and it will ultimately just be $10 I wasted. I’m sure the game will still do great because of Nintendo’s loyal customer base. Also, spending $10 on a game without the ability to test it out is also a no go for me; how am I supposed to know if I like the game?
Games also drain a phone’s battery life, and I already struggle to keep my phone charged for 24 hours. While this game may be worth the drainage of battery life, I may take a pass on this game. Unless this game has something incredible to it, I won’t be purchasing it.
Finally, the WIRED article explains the game as, “Mario runs automatically and the player controls his jumps by tapping the screen.” This reminds me of a FlappyBird type game, and I am definitely over that. Unless the game is revolutionary, I don’t expect it to do amazing. All in all, with the Nintendo name it will still do alright.
https://www.wired.com/2016/11/super-mario-run-release-date-price/
As I was skimming through blog posts today, this one really caught my attention. As soon as I saw Mario I knew I had to give it a read. Mario was pretty much my childhood if you are talking about playing video games, and still is something I play here and there. Nintendo has been extremely successful with their Mario games from Mario Kart, Mario Tennis, Mario Party and on and on. The thing that really surprises me about all of this is that this is Nintendo’s first time releasing a Mario game through the app store. A little late don’t you think? It is good to hear that Nintendo is going back to their roots of Mario in the development of new games. Why wouldn’t they? Mario has been around for decades, it only seems right they continue with it. Why fix something if it’s not broken? Now, the only thing that discourages me about this game is the price tag. $10 for a game on your mobile device is pricey in my opinion. Now some people may disagree with me on that but for me to spend $10 on a game, I do not want to be playing it on a screen as small as my iPhone 6s. However, I know there are a lot of iPhone users out there who will buy this game and enjoy it very much. Overall this is a huge step for Nintendo as I will be interested to see if this turns out to be the first of many Nintendo games we will see in the app store.
This news means big things for Nintendo. Entering new markets, especially the mobile industry is a smart step for a video game company. More people own iPhones than they do WiiUs or 3ds’s. Vast majority of the people who will buy this game for $10 will be adults who want the nostalgia of Mario, similar to Pokemon Go. However, I do not think that this game will be as viral as Pokemon go because it does not have the same social aspect. Another worry that I have regarding this game being released is that less Nintendo games may be on their flagship devices and instead they may just put them on mobile phones. Although they may be transitioning to mobile phones for some games because of the upcoming release of the Nintendo Switch, which will replace both the WiiU and 3ds. Overall I am really excited that Nintendo has decided to step into 3rd party markets.
I definitely agree that this is a crucial step for Nintendo, and I am surprised that they haven’t released a game on mobile prior to Super Mario Run. According to an article on Forbes, they say that this is Nintendo’s best possible move in the gaming industry, with gaming moving to mobile pretty rapidly. And, that although the price is very high for a mobile app, many life long Nintendo fans are willing to pay that price for the product. Just think about how much a game console and video game is, just for comparison. The article states, “Pokémon GO should be a signal to Nintendo and its fans alike: Nintendo’s properties might just be as valuable as people think they are, and they stand to make a lot more money by running wild. Not only that, the post-Pokémon GO 3DS sales show that this is a synergistic opportunity.” So, nevertheless, the time is now for Nintendo to thrive via mobile, and although they are still thriving on their original consoles, being on mobile cannot hurt. Something that I found interesting,though, is the comparison between Pokemon Go and Super Mario Run. While Pokemon Go was the first very highly interactive game we’ve seen yet, Super Mario Run is very similar to its original form. Mario is running and you have to tap to have him escape obstacles and collect coins, with not much interaction with the real world. I am interested to see how the app sales will do, especially with the higher price, and compared to Pokemon Go, a more modernistic game.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2016/09/08/super-mario-run-on-apples-ios-is-best-possible-move-for-nintendo/#1d242028c8ba
This is so exciting news to me. This one game is first Mario game on iPhone this year, and it will release it on android in 2017. This game is funny, but we only able to download it, and play a few levels, for free on December 15. If I want to play higher levels and I have to pay $10. This is a tiny taste for reguler players.
https://www.wired.com/2016/11/super-mario-run-release-date-price/
I am curious to see how Nintendo redefines itself in the modern day gaming industry. According to a TechTimes article, Nintendo has been struggling with poor sales recently, especially with their hand held console the 3DS. Maybe this game signals that Nintendo is going to focus much more on the mobile gaming industry versus producing their own gaming technologies. I am interested to see how the divide between mobile and console games will either be bridged or pushed further apart soon. We have seen some attempted crossovers like Fallout 4 releasing a mobile app that serves as a companion to the console game. But overall I feel that a lot of these attempts are unsuccessful and we will likely see a further divide between the two markets compared to them coming together.
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/57048/20150604/gaming-go-future-mobile-vs-consoles.htm