Can someone who is an App developer take a guess what it would cost to get a game like this programmed and developed? Would a $5 million development budget be too much? I really have no idea.
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Super Mario Run Sets App Store Record With 40 Million Downloads as New Game Mode Rolls Out
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Can someone who is an App developer take a guess what it would cost to get a game like this programmed and developed? Would a $5 million development budget be too much? I really have no idea.
Right. See the Sonic games available on iOS. Controls are garbage for those games without physical buttons.
And Nintendo would never have been able to release a game that cost more than $5 ever again.
And let's see how this plays out. Everyone is going to know someone who bought the $10 game. Let's see if word of mouth converts people into paying customers.
I think Nintendo understands economics just fine. They've been in the business longer than you've been alive (probably).Then it could have been an even yuger hit had Nintendo understood economics!
Here's my take, Mario is Nintendo's prized asset. He is the face of the company. There's no way that they could have made this a regular F2P title because it would devalue their crown jewels.
They can't price it too low because customers will expect all of their properties to be priced low.
I'm sure they've studied the price point thoroughly and decided that $10 premium price point worthy of Mario, but not too high to prevent any conversions.
In the end, it's not really about the money for Nintendo. It's about getting their properties into the mobile gaming arena, but also maintaining the perception of high quality.
I didn't say "free sticker", I said "free sticker price". It's a subtle but important distinction.
Sure we can agree to disagree on price point but wifi-only DRM and no family sharing is just anti-consumer and beneath what Apple customers expect.
I was going to say this as well. Not to mention that once you get all of the coins, you can choose which version of the level you want to play. Got all the coin colors once? Try it again, but in less attempts this time! There's a lot more replay ability than a lot of people seem to realize.
Totally agree with you on the DRM, but that's typical Nintendo behavior (see "lockout chip"). The Family Sharing thing is also a dirty trick as well, but there are workarounds for that.
In the end, I paid the $10 because I enjoyed the game enough. The always-on internet requirement isn't a big deal for me because I pretty much always have internet.
Online-only DRM*, and the point stands. My nephew couldn't play it in the car on his ipad, it's a really backwards policy.
I think $10 is a great price for this game, I don't want ads or any kind of in app purchases. Nintendo could make it cheaper but then they would just be undervaluing their product. Just as Apple could sell the iPhone for a lot less and still make money, but people still buy it at the higher price.
what have you lost by using family sharing? $10, because you didn't know that in-app purchases are not something you can share with the other family accounts? what other negatives do you have about the feature?
I really wish people would stop using this argument. It's not about the fact that it costs money. It's about the fact that it is stupidly overpriced. It costs 14 dollars here... for a glorified flappy bird essentially, except MARIO-themed.
For the same price, I can get games with much more content, like Minecraft or (the much better) Leo's Fortune. The latter, on the other hand, is a great game made by incredibly talented people that has way more depth and a much better gameplay experience. And it costs half the price.
I'm not mad about games costing money; I'll gladly pay 10 dollars for a game as good as Leo's Fortune or for a game with as many elements as Minecraft. But charging 14 dollars for a poorly-rated, flawed, generic game because of branding is idiotic, and I refuse to accept Nintendo's cocky pricing.
I agree with what others have said about not valuing software, and I'm frequently guilty of it myself. Pay $1000 for a new iPhone every couple of years? Sure, no problem! Spend $10 for an app/game? No way! Free, or it's not worth it!
im surprised that price turned out to be the biggest issue with the game.
i had no issues with price - just didn't think the game was very good. also the 24/7 internet thing is absurd.
i had no issues with price - just didn't think the game was very good. also the 24/7 internet thing is absurd.
Great, still not going to buy it. Doesn't work offline. Kinda important for cross-country flights.
I haven't had much time to play yet but I'm a big fan of the "download for free and pay once to unlock everything" model. So far the game seems like a lot of fun. It's still fairly simple but I trust levels 1-2 and 1-3 will introduce more complexity; if not I will be a bit disappointed.
Stay strong Nintendo! You're fighting the good fight!
Stay strong Nintendo! You're fighting the good fight!
what other games' message boards do you guys go on to talk about how you don't like the game or it's overpriced?
I noticed that in the shop there is a pink, purple and black pipe that says something like "It has a star on it and when tapped will take you to a secret course".
Sounds like a star world to me.
You can purchase them once you have collected all of the respective coloured coins
I just got all the pink coins and got that pipe you mentioned. It does indeed take you to a special level, and it's not easy!
40 million downloads - Not really surprised since the game has been advertised at the top of the App Store for an age and the biggie: it's Free.
Would love to see the percentage of those downloads turn into paying customers though. 2%. Less?
Would love to see the percentage of those downloads turn into paying customers though. 2%. Less?
The analytics firm quoted in the original post estimates the conversion rate at 8%.