Super Mario Run, Nintendo’s first big smartphone game has gone missing from Apple’s App Store. According to several users on Reddit, the game featuring Nintendo’s mascot is nowhere to be found on the App Store.
“Searching for ‘Mario Run’ brings up Sonic Boom as the first search result,” claimed one Redditor.
Super Mario Run Returns to the App Store
“When you select to view Super Mario Run in the App Store, it comes up ‘item not available’. Very strange indeed,” said another.
Gadgets 360 verified the above statements to be true. While other apps from Nintendo such as Miitomo are still available, Super Mario Run is not. If you have purchased the game earlier though, you will still be able to download it, else you're out of luck.
During Nintendo’s financial earnings report, the company has said the game has been downloaded almost 150 million times across iOS and Android. Incidentally, it’s still available for download via the Google Play Store.
In January, it was revealed that Super Mario Run was downloaded 78 million times with around five percent paying for the full version, translating to close to four million.
Revenue from the game "did not meet our expectations," Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima said speaking to Asia Nikkei in March. Previously it was reported that the game's gross revenue hit $30 million in two weeks.
At the time, the company isn’t planning to focus freemium games completely, citing its success with Fire Emblem: Heroes being an outlier.
"We honestly prefer the Super Mario Run model,” a senior company official said to Asia Nikkei in March.
We wonder if this thinking would change considering that the company has admitted that Fire Emblem Heroes, despite having tenth of Super Mario Run’s install base is monetising better.
Nonetheless, this could be due to an update for the game or perhaps even related to the upcoming iPhone 8 event? Only time will tell. For now though, if you’re hankering for some Super Mario Run, Android seems to be your only option.
Update, September 5, 2017: Super Mario Run is back on the App Store.
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