The reveal of Super Mario Run is one of the biggest surprises of the year for gaming. Nintendo, formerly opposed to making smartphone games, appeared onstage at an Apple event to announce this game for sometime later this year. Today, the Super Mario Run release date and price were formally revealed. It’ll be out Dec. 15, and the full version will cost $9.99.
Right Price And Time?
Nintendo had hinted at a December release date from the beginning, so the timing wasn’t a shock. The Super Mario Run price, meanwhile, might shock some folks used to free apps or only spending a dollar. Though this pricing is very much Nintendo’s usual strategy.
When the late Satoru Iwata gave a speech on mobile gaming in 2011, the president of Nintendo spoke on his concerns with low prices cheapening games. Nintendo has long had the concern that low prices impact a game’s quality, a $0.99 Super Mario Run could be seen as damaging to Mario’s overall brand. It’s the same reason that many Nintendo hits on Wii U and 3DS are slower to drop in price than the competition.
$9.99 is certainly on the high end for an app, so Nintendo seems to have a lot of faith in Super Mario Run‘s ability to sell the game to the world. Do they think the single-tap, endless runner will hit the same level of popularity as the New Super Mario Bros. franchise? Perhaps they think that the free, limited access to Super Mario Run‘s three game modes will be enough to sell people on Mario’s first phone adventure.
Will you pay that much to tap along with Mario on your phone? Are you going to be downloading ASAP when the Super Mario Run release date rolls around? While you make up your mind, why not take a closer look at how Super Mario Run‘s announcement went down some weeks ago, when Shigeru Miyamoto shocked the world by appearing on an Apple stage.