Nintendo won't be making any more 'Super Mario' games for iPhone

'Mario Run' wasn't a big hit on mobile

Nintendo director and designer Shigeru Miyamoto has confirmed Mario won't be coming back to smartphones like iPhone.

Nintendo has released a range of titles on mobile devices like iPhone. They have seen middling success, but they never penetrated the market in the way such popular intellectual properties usually would.

In an extensive interview with Variety, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto spoke about mobile gaming and the future of Mario. While he didn't have any announcements about upcoming titles, he confirmed Mario wouldn't be returning to smartphones.

After $60 million of earnings from "Super Mario Run" in its first year, and $300 million generated for "Mario Kart Tour" since its 2019 debut, it was clear Mario wasn't winning mobile. For comparison, "Mario Kart 8" has raked in $3 billion on the Nintendo Switch console.

"Having Mario games as mobile apps expands the doorway for far more audience to experience the game, and also expands the Mario gaming experience, where you only need your thumb on one hand," said Miyamoto. Despite that, he also stated that "mobile apps will not be the primary path of future Mario games."

Nothing was said of the other Nintendo properties on iPhone. "Animal Crossing Pocket Camp" and "Fire Emblem Heroes" are both still actively being updated in the App Store.

The franchise's future is in question, with "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" coming to theaters Wednesday, April 5. While Miyamoto wouldn't elaborate on where the character will appear next, it is clear it won't be on mobile.

Follow AppleInsider on Google News

5 Comments

chadbag

said about 1 year ago

The problem is that Nintendo dilutes the Mario games down to trivial games on mobile phones. Give me a full Mario Kart and I’m there. Even though I’ve paid for Mario Kart 8 on Wii U and on Switch. Give me the real deal and I would pay real money.

Nintendo — it’s your own fault. Not that your games on iPhone were bad sellers. I bet 95% of game makers for phones would die for your sales numbers. But you dilute the games down to simplistic trivial games and you get trivial results.

Japhey

said about 1 year ago

chadbag said:

The problem is that Nintendo dilutes the Mario games down to trivial games on mobile phones. Give me a full Mario Kart and I’m there. Even though I’ve paid for Mario Kart 8 on Wii U and on Switch. Give me the real deal and I would pay real money.

Nintendo — it’s your own fault. Not that your games on iPhone were bad sellers. I bet 95% of game makers for phones would die for your sales numbers. But you dilute the games down to simplistic trivial games and you get trivial results.

I agree with what you’re saying, but I really think that Nintendo doesn’t care. They released those games on iOS very reluctantly at first. They weren’t interested in developing any of their franchises for competitors devices. But the WiiU and early Switch years were pretty lean for them, so they relented out of necessity. Now with the Switch becoming the second best selling console of all time and rumors for the Switch 2 heating up, Nintendo is starting to bring everything back home. And I respect the hell out of them for it. That’s my 2¢ at least.

king editor the grate

said about 1 year ago

The Variety story is adamant that Miyamoto stated they will not be on phones, but he seemed to indicate Mario phone games can serve as a hook, and that phone apps would not be “the primary path,” which means they might be a secondary or tertiary path.

chadbag

said about 1 year ago

Japhey said:

chadbag said:

The problem is that Nintendo dilutes the Mario games down to trivial games on mobile phones. Give me a full Mario Kart and I’m there. Even though I’ve paid for Mario Kart 8 on Wii U and on Switch. Give me the real deal and I would pay real money.

Nintendo — it’s your own fault. Not that your games on iPhone were bad sellers. I bet 95% of game makers for phones would die for your sales numbers. But you dilute the games down to simplistic trivial games and you get trivial results.

I agree with what you’re saying, but I really think that Nintendo doesn’t care. They released those games on iOS very reluctantly at first. They weren’t interested in developing any of their franchises for competitors devices. But the WiiU and early Switch years were pretty lean for them, so they relented out of necessity. Now with the Switch becoming the second best selling console of all time and rumors for the Switch 2 heating up, Nintendo is starting to bring everything back home. And I respect the hell out of them for it. That’s my 2¢ at least.

I wonder what the percentage of people out there is that would buy a full iPhone Mario Kart in addition to the Switch (fully online capable iPhone version interactions with Switch players) and how many would forego buying a Switch or the Switch version of an iPhone version were available. I’m in the “additional purchase” camp myself but I could be an outlier.

I bought the family Switch (and only family supplied console) in order to play Mario Kart. We have other games on it but the only reason dad supplied it was for Mario Kart. My son bought his own Switch since I won’t allow ours to leave the family room and he wanted to take it on the plane when we went to Japan recently. (He is an adult son, just hit 20, living at home as a college student).

If my camp is bigger then Nintendo is missing out. If the other camp is bigger then they are being Steve Jobs smart.

Marvin

said about 1 year ago

AppleInsider said:
After $60 million of earnings from "Super Mario Run" in its first year, and $300 million generated for "Mario Kart Tour" since its 2019 debut, it was clear Mario wasn't winning mobile. For comparison, "Mario Kart 8" has raked in $3 billion on the Nintendo Switch console.

The main issue here is revenue per player rather than popularity. Mario Kart 8 sold 60 million units. $3b / 60m = $50 per copy.

Mario Kart Tour was reported to have made $200m when it hit 200m downloads, which is $1 per copy:

https://twinfinite.net/2021/04/mario-kart-tour-hits-200-million-downloads-200-million-revenue/

If they were able to convince mobile game players to spend $10-20 per copy, it would have been a successful game.

Mobile players only spend that much through addictive game mechanics and in-app purchases. Mario Kart Tour had the potential for long-term gameplay but the in-app purchases don't offer enough of an incentive to buy them.

I was hoping to see a Donkey Kong Run game. Super Mario Run was a good game. They just need to figure out what people are willing to pay for, maybe character costumes, power moves, unlock extra worlds, extra characters. What's certain is mobile players will never pay console game prices and that will always be their advantage.