Super Mario Run hits 78 million downloads—but only five percent buy it

Enlarge (credit: YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images)

Nintendo's Super Mario Run, the portly plumber's first official outing on mobile devices, has been downloaded over 78 million times. Of those 78 million, 40 million were in the first four days of the game hitting the iOS App Store, while five percent (roughly four million people) paid the one-off £8/$10 fee to unlock the full version.

Super Mario Run's success has transformed Nintendo's mobile/IP licensing business, generating revenues of ¥10.6 billion (£75 million, $93 million) for the nine-month period ending December 31 2016, compared to ¥4.4 billion (£30 million, $38 million) in 2015, according to its latest financial report. Super Mario Run has since fallen off the App Store charts, but is due for release on Android in March.

Despite Nintendo's promising start in mobile, Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima told reporters that Super Mario Run's conversion rate (that is, the number of players that opted to pay for the full version) fell below the company's double digit expectations. Hopes are high for its next mobile game, Fire Emblem Heroes, which is due for release on Android and iOS on February 2. Its Animal Crossing mobile game has now been pushed back to "the next fiscal year," which could be as late as March 2018.