Players have spent more than $1 billion on Nintendo’s mobile games

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Players have spent more than $1 billion on Nintendo's mobile games
That's a reason to jump for joy (if you're a Nintendo shareholder!)
Photo: Nintendo

Nintendo’s mobile games have pulled in more than $1 billion in revenue from global player spending, new data published by mobile analytics firm Sensor Tower suggests.

Nintendo currently has six mobile games, which have received a total of 452 million downloads worldwide. The biggest earner, accounting for 61% of mobile revenue, is the RPG game Fire Emblem Heroes.

After that, the second and third places on the list are taken by Animal Crossing (12% of spending) and Dragalia Lost (11% of spending.)

That might surprise those expecting one of the Mario games to be Nintendo’s popular. Super Mario Run and Mario Kart Tour both received plenty of hype. Interestingly, Super Mario Run remains Nintendo’s most downloaded title, with 244 million downloads. However, it only accounts for 7% of revenue. This is the game which seemingly provoked Nintendo to change its mobile strategy, due to not making enough cash.

Mario Kart Tour, for its part, represents 8% of Nintendo’s mobile revenue. According to Apple, it was the most downloaded App Store game of 2019. The lesser-known Dr. Mario World makes up less than 1% of player spending.

This list covers both the iOS App Store and Google Play store. Nintendo’s top market worldwide is in its home market of Japan. A massive 54% of its overall mobile game revenue comes from this market. Despite being twice the size of Japan in terms of population, the US comes second, raking in $316 million or 29% of Nintendo’s mobile revenue.

Recently, Nintendo has been experimenting with subscription-based gaming packages. Mario Kart Tour has its $4.99 Gold Pass. Meanwhile, Animal Crossing has its $7.99 per month “Cookie & Depot Plan” and $2.99 per month “Happy Helper Plan” subscriptions.

Which Nintendo mobile games, if any, are you currently playing? What do you think has been the biggest success (or failure) so far? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Source: Sensor Tower

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