Freemium models are dominant in most popular gaming apps, with Pokemon Go being one of them. But for Nintendo's first foray in mobile gaming, the company chose to skip freemium altogether for Super Mario Run.
Shigeru Miyamoto reveals the reason why they didn't go freemium. Initially, they did not even want to try out the free-to-play approach. But in order for people to try out the game, they decided to have a free-to-play demo instead.
In order to unlock the whole game, players have to pay $9.99 for one time only, instead of having endless micro transaction possibilities for players to advance in the game. And that was part of the reason why Shigeru Miyamoto decided not to have the freemium model. He says, "For Nintendo, we have a lot of kids that play our products. It was important for us to be able to offer Super Mario Run in a way that parents would feel assured that they could buy the game and give it to their kids without having to worry about future transactions."
While not having a freemium model benefits players of Super Mario Run from micro transactions in the future, the game might not be able to generate the same profit as Pokemon Go did in its first month due to pricing. In studies of mobile app revenue, freemium apps count for majority of revenues in Apple's iOS App Store. Premium apps are usually priced at $2 - 5, only a few are priced in the same range as Super Mario Run in the $10 - 20 category.
The most solid reason that Super Mario Run can have for not following the freemium model is that there are already millions that are going to download and play the game, which is what most premium apps are characterized for--having a strong demand. However, potential revenues from the app will be limited compared to freemium games like Pokemon Go since players only pay a fixed amount for every transaction.
Super Mario Run comes out in Apple's iOS App Store on December 15, 2016.
Watch the Super Mario Run trailer here: