Nintendo's Dr. Mario World Ends First Month with 7.5 Million Downloads, $1.4 Million Grossed

Nintendo's fifth mobile game is off to a healthy start compared to other puzzle titles based on licensed properties, Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data shows. Dr. Mario World, co-developed with LINE, scored an estimated $1.4 million in player spending across the App Store and Google play in its first month on approximately 7.5 million installs.

As the chart below illustrates, these numbers place the title fifth for first-month revenue among Nintendo's mobile portfolio and fourth in terms of downloads, where it surpassed last fall's Dragalia Lost by 5.8 million installs or 363 percent. Still, Dr. Mario World trailed Super Mario Run, Nintendo's most downloaded mobile title during its first 30 days, by 66 percent. The publisher's largest first month for spending went to Fire Emblem Heroes in February 2017 when that title grossed $67.6 million or 44 times more than Dr. Mario World.

Looked at in terms of another important metric, revenue per download, the title has some ground to make up. Dr. Mario World saw an average of $0.19 spent per install during its first month, placing it fifth among Nintendo's mobile games by this measure. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, released in November 2017, performed better with gross revenue per download of $0.71 in its first 30 days. Dragalia Lost has posted the best first month for Nintendo yet in terms of this metric with nearly $16.50 in gross revenue per download.

Japan led spending in Dr. Mario World at 55 percent of revenue generated or $770,000. The United States was the title's second largest market with 33 percent or $462,000 in spending. Downloads were led by the U.S. with 35 percent or close to 2.6 million compared to Japan's 1.4 million or 19 percent of all installs.

Comparing IP-Based Puzzle Game Debuts

Although Dr. Mario World—a title which arrived to significantly less fanfare than Nintendo's previous mobile titles—may be underperforming against to the rest of the company's lineup, Sensor Tower data shows that it compares favorably to other puzzle genre launches based on licensed properties.

The game's first month gross revenue was 40 percent greater than the well-supported launch of Snoopy Pop+ from Jam City, which occurred in July 2017 and generated an estimated $1 million in player spending in the same markets. Dr. Mario World also saw 270 percent more downloads than the licensed title's total of two million. Another IP-based puzzle game from Jam City, Family Guy Freakin Mobile Game, launched in April 2017 and grossed $900,000 more than Dr. Mario World, but Nintendo's title saw 57 percent more downloads. Jam City's titles have gone on to gross an estimated $16 million and $47 million, respectively, in all markets.

Another licensed mobile puzzle title, SEGA Heroes from Nintendo's one-time rival, SEGA, grossed $340,000 and was downloaded 195,000 times in its first 30 days, not including Japan and South Korea. Removing those countries from its total, Dr. Mario World grossed $606,000 or 78 percent more than SEGA's title, and had 5.9 million installs or about 30 times more than SEGA Heroes.