Yesterday, Nintendo released Mario Kart Tour onto mobile phones for free, and it’s already amassed 20 million players, making it the biggest mobile game launch for Nintendo ever when measured strictly by downloads. When measured by revenue, Fire Emblem Heroes is still it’s biggest launch. In other words, a ton of people have downloaded and are playing the free Mario Kart, but Nintendo’s sixth mobile game could be monetized much better. News of the impressive downloads figure comes way of Sensor Tower, who notes the game made $1 globally in player spending in less than 24 hours.
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With 20 million players in 24 hours, Mario Kart Tour nearly triples Nintendo’s next biggest mobile launch, Super Mario Run, which accumulated 7 million players in the same amount of time. As of right now, the split between Android and iOS seems pretty even, with the game topping many regional sales charts for the latter.
#MarioKartTour is #Nintendo‘s biggest mobile launch by downloads with 20 million installs in 24 hours, third best by revenue with $1 million in spending: https://t.co/Y5Qt60QXkh #MarioKart pic.twitter.com/JrBPPSnnmH
— Sensor Tower (@SensorTower) September 26, 2019
That said, many players aren’t engaging with the game’s monetization yet, suggesting it needs an improvement. Despite having way more players, it currently has about 25 percent the day one spending as Fire Emblem Heroes.
Sensor Tower notes that the game may have a slower start in terms of spending simply because Nintendo is experimenting with its monetization model, opting for a season pass, which won’t charge players for another 13 days. In other words, its numbers aren’t currently represented.
Mario Kart Tour is available for free on both Android and iOS devices. For more information on the game, be sure to check out the official pitch for it below, courtesy of Nintendo:
“Mario and friends go global in this new Mario Kart as they race around courses inspired by real-world cities in addition to classic Mario Kart courses! These destinations will be featured in tours that rotate every two weeks! In addition to courses based on iconic locales, some of your favorite Mario Kart characters will get variations that incorporate the local flavor of cities featured in the game!”
