Freemium unlocks are dead. Dead dead dead. Nintendo just proved why they do not work, in one stunning example. The Wall Street Journal's Takashi Mochizuki reports on a Nintendo earnings call that Super Mario Run [Free] has gotten 150 million downloads, but Fire Emblem Heroes [Free] has brought in more revenue on less than 10% of the downloads. That's right, folks, we live in a reality where a Fire Emblem game can out-perform a Mario game. Nintendo says that their goal was for 10% of Super Mario Run players to pay for the game, but they haven't reached that yet.

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The lesson is here is that the freemium business model doesn't work. It combines the two biggest downsides of trying to sell mobile games: the limited revenue generation of a one-time game purchase, and the paid-user conversion struggle of free-to-play. When not even Nintendo, with a brand-new Mario game on mobile, can struggle with revenue generation to the point where a Fire Emblem game is making more money, it should be clear to everyone who participates in the mobile games industry: stop making freemium games. For readers, I know this is rough since it's a very consumer-friendly business model. But unfortunately, it just does not work that well. Not for tiny indies trying to make it in the market, and not for Nintendo with a freaking Mario game.
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