Forget about Pokemon, people are now going crazy for Mario.
Nintendo’s first true smartphone game launched recently, and it's already a huge hit. According to the company, Super Mario Run for iOS was downloaded more than 40 million times in its first four days, breaking the App Store record for number of downloads during that timespan. Granted, Super Mario Run debuted in 140 different countries, and it reached the top 10 highest-grossing charts in 100 of those countries.
While it's free to download, the full game costs $9.99. Nintendo hasn't confirmed exactly how many Mario Runners decided to pay that one-time fee in order to unlock the popular title. However, based on its success in the charts, we're betting Nintendo is a lot richer now than it was a week ago. It'll therefore be interesting to see if the company is willing to walk away from its fledging console business to better focus on mobile gaming.
Keep in mind Niantic's Pokemon Go launched this past summer and was massively hyped. While it's not exclusive to iPhones and iPads (it launched cross-platform), it is available across the globe and hit 30 million downloads in two weeks. It's also free to play, though there are in-app purchases.
We're not sure when the Android edition of Super Mario Run will appear. It won't be until later in 2017, we suspect.