Super Mario Run raced onto iOS devices yesterday, but despite it rocketing straight to the top of the charts in less than a day, it appears as if not everyone is convinced that it’ll be a success. As per GameSpot, Nintendo’s share value dropped by five percent following the mobile game’s release, instantly wiping $1.1 billion off the Japanese company’s value. The drastic drop recovered throughout the day, however, with an overall depreciation noted to be around four percent.
Why exactly investors have shunned the game’s potential to be a money-maker for Nintendo isn’t entirely clear, but the platformer certainly hasn’t been without its controversies since being announced in October. Despite being a free download, the vast majority of Super Mario Run‘s content is locked behind a one-time payment of $10 – a relatively high price where mobile apps are concerned, but even more so when its length is already being called into question. The fact that Mario’s first major outing on the platform is currently only available on iOS won’t help the matter either, although it is slated for a release on Android devices in the future.
Above all else though, Nintendo’s revelation that Super Mario Run requires a constant internet connection to function could well be the deal-breaker that turns many off from tapping that download button. Shigeru Miyamoto told Mashable last week that an offline component was, at one point, in the works, but dropped due to network and security concerns.
“We had thought at one point that it would be nice to have the World Tour [story] mode available standalone, to be able to play without that connection. But then the challenge is when that’s operating in a standalone mode, it actually complicates the connection back to the Toad Rally and Kingdom modes. And because those two modes are relying on the network save, we had to integrate the World Tour mode as well.”
It may be too early to tell whether Super Mario Run can be considered a success or failure for Nintendo, but the early signs are certainly mixed. What do you think, though? If you’ve had the chance to give Mario’s mobile outing a quick whirl, let us know what your initial impressions are in the comments below.
