Nintendo’s ‘Super Mario Run’ Scores Revenue, but CEO Wants More – WSJ (Jan 31, 2017)

This is the first real indication we’ve had directly from the source of how Super Mario Run has performed for Nintendo since it was released in mid-December, and it came in the context of Nintendo reporting its results for the December quarter. Overall revenue for the quarter was 174 billion Yen, or around $1.5 billion, while total revenue from Super Mario Run so far (including January) is around 6 billion Yen, or $53 million. So even though Super Mario Run has done well in its own right, it’s a drop in the bucket in terms of Nintendo’s overall business. The other key number is that around 5% of those who have downloaded the game have paid $10 to unlock the full functionality. As a frame of reference, King (maker of Candy Crush) reports that around 2% of its monthly users make some kind of payment, with the average paying user spending a lot more than $10 per month. Zynga sees a conversion rate of just under 2% and again sees spending per paying user per month well above $10. So although a 5% conversion rate may seem high, that’s a one-off payment, whereas competing game maker’s smaller number of paying users pay repeatedly over a period of time for a much larger total amount. So far, Nintendo’s business model, which attempted to buck the usual IAP model for games, has both annoyed some users while delivering a lower payout than competing games. I’m not convinced it’s done figuring out the right business model for its mobile offerings.

via WSJ

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• Nintendo

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