Super Mario Run‘s first day was over 10 times as successful as Pokémon Go‘s, according to the latest data.
Research firm App Annie (via Polygon) reports that Nintendo’s mobile game was downloaded over 10 million times on its December 15th launch date, placing at the top of the charts. On that day alone, the game made $4 million.
Those numbers don’t mean that Mario has a free invincibility star to race towards the final flag, though. Despite the positive start, Nintendo’s shares fell shortly after the game’s release.
“If you were hoping that Mario would perform like Pokémon [Go], then Mario clearly didn’t achieve its mission,” Ace Research Institute analyst Hideki Yasuda told The Wall Street Journal. “But that was placing expectations too high because the Mario game’s business scheme is so different from Pokémon.”
On the other hand, App Annie analysts seem to think that the game will perform well in the long run—though much of that will depend on how Nintendo intends to manage the game going forwards.
Analysts are also keeping an eye on the game’s current $9.99 price tag. Most successful games in the mobile market are free to play, and make their money through microtransactions that pop up later in the game. Super Mario Run offers players a free demo before asking players for the $9.99 for the full game—and after that, there are no other transactions needed. If successful, this model of pricing could become more popular.
Super Mario Run is currently available for iOS devices.