Super Mario Run expected to hit 1.5 billion downloads post launch

Nintendo announced at the iPhone 7 launch event that Mario is finally going to launch on smartphone platforms starting with iOS. Super Mario Run will be available for download from December on the iPhone and iPad from this December followed by Android. According to Kantan Games analyst Serkan Toto, the game will be downloaded 1.5 billion times throughout its lifetime.Nintendo’s stock prices have also surged 29 percent right after creator Shigeru Miyamoto made the announcement on Wednesday.“As Nintendo’s first actual game for smart devices, I expect Super Mario Run to do extremely well in terms of downloads,” Toto wrote in a Kantan Games blog. “[I predict more than] 1.5 billion downloads over the lifecycle of the game, worldwide, on both iOS and Android and for tablets and phones.”Toto also mentioned that while Nintendo is planning to charge a premium price for the game, it will have a free demo version that people will download first before unlocking the rest of the game.“The pricing has caused a lot of confusion,” said Toto. “Nintendo Japan is historically terrible in communications, and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto did a bad job explaining this part of the game when he demonstrated it for the first time.”Considering the free initial trial and the billions Android or iOS smartphone owners around the world, the game should reach the 1.5-billion milestone as long as it is entertaining.