Why Price is not the problem with Super Mario Run

Super Mario, the world's most famous plumber and all round gaming icon. Nintendo made a quick bet on Mario grabbing a bag full of coins for Nintendo shareholders, yet the public are not so impressed. Let's look at why.

With the overwhelming success of Pokemon Go's launch on mobile platforms, it wasn't a surprise to see Nintendo quickly push another famous character down the pipeline (forgive me, couldn't help it). Mario has become a gaming icon on every platform Nintendo has created, from the NES and Gameboy days, to the soon to launch Nintendo Switch. Nintendo without Mario is like a fish tank without fish.

So why have reviews been so dismissive of Super Mario Run? Well to start off with, this is Mario without Nintendo, as the game was not made for a Nintendo platform. That marriage made in heaven has now been outsourced to other platforms, and unfortunately I didn't buy an iPhone to play Mario. That's not to say that mobiles are not for games, of course they are, it's the fastest growing gaming market in the world, however that brand recognition does not go hand in hand.

To give an example, if you were to buy a Nintendo console, you would bet that either packaged with the console itself, or as an add on buy, you would end up with a Super Mario game. I've yet to meet someone who has bought a Nintendo console, and at some point in that product's life cycle did not buy a Mario related title (queue up comments of people who managed not to). Yet in buying a mobile phone, Mario is not going to be the first thing you think to go and get, and beyond it's initial hype, is something that would swiftly be forgotten about without persistent advertising. This is how Pokemon Go swiftly became obsolete as the initial cohort got bored, the hype died down, and new players aren't interested. I personally love Pokemon games, but did not download it, as I knew it wouldn't give me the Pokemon game i wanted, and i'd be ultimately disappointed. Boy was I thankful I didn't waste the hours or give up my job to be the best that ever was.

So firstly just to emphasise my point, taking Mario away from Nintendo was a bold move, and one that ultimately may cause doubts within players minds. The brand advocacy is not just for Mario, but for Nintendo itself. One without the other causes questions. Is this a knock off? Will this play the same? Will it be as fun? Wait ￡7.99? Always Online?

I'd like to initially address the price point, as this relates back to the title of the article. ￡7.99 for an official Super Mario game is the cheapest i've ever seen it. If this game was announced for the Nintendo DS it would be ￡24.99 (maybe more) and people would buy it. It has the Nintendo affiliation and the official seal of approval, and although Mario Run was an official Nintendo game, this isn't always apparent to everyone who sees it in the app store. Price here is not the issue in relation to the product, it's in relation to the place. Remember the good old 4 P's of Marketing? Marketing 101 people? Price, Promotion, Product and Place. Well the Price - ￡7.99 is what seems to be causing the backlash, but looking deeper, is it?

People are not used to paying upfront for games on mobile devices. We have this entitlement that games should be free, but somehow spending hundreds of $/￡/€'s on in app purchases is completely fine. So really the main issue here is the Product Placement. It's being sold on the app store, and not in a retailer/online store to buy as a physical product. As I said earlier ￡7.99 is the cheapest Mario game I can remember and if it was being sold for another Nintendo console, we'd have no problem paying treble that price. Super Mario Run's downfall is in it's very nature as a mobile game. Mario doesn't belong in the Apple App Store. When you think Mario, you don't think Apple, you think Peach. So maybe this experiment was doomed from the start?

What can we learn from this then? Well I set out to make this article about Marketing, and how aligning a familiar brand in a new market does not always work. Media across the world are blaming the ￡7.99 fee for Mario's downfall, as even with all the coins in the world, that's too expensive? The reality is, that Mario belongs with Nintendo, and sending him to other platforms has never been something Nintendo has done. Nintendo have never released their IP's on Xbox or Playstation or PC, because they're not Nintendo platforms.

The mobile games market is indeed a growing one, and no doubt may be of interest to Nintendo with new games and characters. However, sometimes with iconic characters aligned to a brand, it's best to stay at home on the sofa. Gamers don't like running, and Mario is certainly getting on a bit ;).

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