Dr. Mario World, Nintendo’s newest venture into mobile gaming, reached 2 million downloads in the first 72 hours after it was launched for iOS and Android.
Nintendo’s fifth mobile game also raked in revenue of about $100,000 from in-app purchases over the same period, according to Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data.
Dr. Mario World offers a Candy Crush-style match-three experience for mobile gamers, which is different from the original Dr. Mario, which more closely resembled Tetris. The game is free-to-start, allowing players to go through the tutorial levels without having to spend any money. However, once the game starts, players will be limited to five hearts, with each lost heart regenerating every half hour. Players who do not want to wait may spend real-world money to buy diamonds, which in turn may be used to acquire more hearts, more time in speed levels, and power-ups.
Fans are divided on Dr. Mario World, as it does not feature the same mechanics as the classic series that started in 1990. This is illustrated in how the game fared in its first 72 hours since launch, compared to Nintendo’s other mobile games.
Dr. Mario World‘s number of downloads and earned revenue over the first 72 hours pale in comparison to the performance of Nintendo’s first two entries in the mobile gaming space over the same window. Super Mario Run was downloaded 4.3 million times and earned $6.5 million, despite the fact that it was only available for iOS at the start, while Fire Emblem Heroes was downloaded 4.9 million times and earned $11.6 million. Animal Crossing saw the most downloads at 6 million, but earned only $1.4 million, while Dragalia Lost only saw 300,000 downloads, as it was launched in just five markets, earning $250,000.
According to Sensor Tower, Dr. Mario World‘s performance is not surprising, as it is not as popular as Nintendo’s Super Mario, Fire Emblem, and Animal Crossing franchises. The game also did not benefit from the same level of pre-launch marketing as the big-name games. Sensor Tower also pointed out that while the puzzle game’s revenue was much lower compared to Nintendo’s other mobile games due to a different modernization model, it may be considered as healthy within the genre as the massively popular Candy Crush Friends Saga, which earned $137,000 over its first 72 hours.
The 2 million downloads for Dr. Mario World is nothing to scoff at either, considering that the game is only available in a portion of the global app markets. The figures are expected to continue to rise as the game is rolled out to more countries.
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