Nintendo not trending towards microtransactions despite poor Super Mario Run sales

‘Heroes is an outlier. We honestly prefer the Super Mario Run model.’

Despite being downloaded 78 million times as of two months ago, Super Mario Run “did not meet our expectations,” in terms of actual money made, Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima told Nikkei.

It’s worth noting that an estimated four million people did buy the $10 game, or 5% of everyone who downloaded it, but Nintendo had expected twice that amount. And while it’s not expected to suddenly double its sales this long after release, it’s also worth noting that those are only figures from the Apple Store; Super Mario Run just released on Android yesterday.

Nintendo isn’t ready to abandon Super Mario Run‘s old school price structure in favor of microtransaction-laden design, however. When asked about the success of Fire Emblem Heroes, a Nintendo spokesperson told Nikkei, “Heroes is an outlier. We honestly prefer the Super Mario Run model.”

Nintendo chases more than profit with ‘Super Mario Run’ [Nikkei]