Nintendo killing 'Dr. Mario World' iOS game in November

AppleInsider · July 28, 2021 11:30AM

Nintendo has announced an "end of service" for the iOS game "Dr. Mario World," and has already ceased in-app purchases.

Dr. Mario World

Just over two years since its launch on the App Store, "Dr. Mario World," Nintendo is shutting down the Tetris-inspired game that originally debuted on the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System. From Monday, November 1, 2021, the game will cease to be available --and existing users will no longer be able to play.

"We would like to extend our sincere thanks to everyone who has played the game," said Nintendo in a statement. "The Dr. Mario World game's service will end on November 1, 2021 (Mon). Furthermore, diamonds will no longer be available for purchase from July 28, 2021 (Wed)."

The company has not given a reason for ending the game, but it has confirmed that it will cease working for existing users.

"If you start up the Dr. Mario World game after the game's service has ended, an end-of-service notification will be displayed and you will not be able to play the game," the company says. "You will be able to look back at your player history in Dr. Mario World Memories, which is a web page that will become available after the game's service ends."

Reportedly "a portion" of users' player history will be saved and "referenced in Dr. Mario World Memories." Users who don't want their history preserved can delete the save data in the app.

"Dr. Mario World" is Nintendo's second casualty on iOS. The first was Miitomo which ran for two years between 2016 and 2018.

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mbenz1962 · July 28, 2021 12:33PM

This is really a shame. I saw the notice this morning when I opened the game to play a few levels. Dr. Mario was always one of my favorite games going all the way back to the NES. I used to play the original with my brother every day as a kid. I even purchased Dr. Mario as a downloadable game for the Wii back when that was a thing. I liked this version too, though I didn't like how pushy Nintendo was with the in-App purchases, but many, many games on the App store have a similar model. I was able to always advance and enjoy playing with out spending any money, but a flat purchase price like they did for Super Mario Run would have been better to me personally. I would have gladly ponied up $10 and them maybe 99 cents for each new world after the first 5 or 10 (currently 31).

edited July 2021

theobannonfile · July 28, 2021 12:57PM

This is a bummer. Too bad they can’t enable the current levels to work for a long time in the future.

crowley · July 28, 2021 1:34PM

It stinks that an app can be made non-functional by the developer, even though network connectivity is not actually used in the app, and especially when users have put money into the app. I love Nintendo, but their entire approach to mobile is garbage.

mr lizard · July 28, 2021 4:13PM

The lesson here is don't invest in any in-app purchases for Nintendo games on iOS. That's a nice tidy profit they made, and now the purchasers are left with no way to enjoy what they've paid for.

edited July 2021

mr lizard · July 28, 2021 4:14PM

crowley said:

It stinks that an app can be made non-functional by the developer, even though network connectivity is not actually used in the app, and especially when users have put money into the app. I love Nintendo, but their entire approach to mobile is garbage.

On the contrary, the app refuses to function unless it has a constant network connection. Even a minor blip in connection (e.g. if you're travelling and your train goes into a tunnel) causes the app to lock up until connection is restored.

crowley · July 28, 2021 4:36PM

mr lizard said:

crowley said:

It stinks that an app can be made non-functional by the developer, even though network connectivity is not actually used in the app, and especially when users have put money into the app. I love Nintendo, but their entire approach to mobile is garbage.

On the contrary, the app refuses to function unless it has a constant network connection. Even a minor blip in connection (e.g. if you're travelling and your train goes into a tunnel) causes the app to lock up until connection is restored.

That's what I mean, it's not actually used for any app functionality, just to police usage and provide the developer a kill switch. It's shitty dev behaviour.

Sorry if unclear.

9secondkox2 · July 28, 2021 5:04PM

This is a big issue with mobile games - or games (and apps) controlled by an App Store with current models.

You acquire it. Play it, love it. Then it’s taken from you.

For something where you invested money - in-app or otherwise, it’s a travesty.

Especially for those who’ve made purchase most recently. No cool. And very un-Nintendo.

And who knows how long the memories web page will be up…

with everything going digital, it seems the only way to keep what you buy is to make sure you buy the physical copy (I. E. Disc, etc). Not popular and not as convenient. But you don’t lose it once someone sends out a bit of kill code.

chadbag · July 28, 2021 5:27PM

I have never played this game but everyone who is frustrated by this should make it publicly know to Nintendo (for example On Twitter) their frustration with this model. And if you mean it, how it means you won't be spending money on other Nintendo games because they can just go away at Nintendo's whim after they've taken your money. They need to get a lot of feedback.

yensid98 · July 28, 2021 6:06PM

This is a real shame. I've played Dr. Mario World nearly every day since it's release. maybe I'm part of the problem though since I never bought an in-app purchase for the game. I'd much prefer to just buy mobile games outright. Just my luck that my two favorite Nintendo mobile games (Miitomo and Dr. Mario World) have been cancelled.

marvin · July 28, 2021 6:20PM

mr lizard said:

The lesson here is don't invest in any in-app purchases for Nintendo games on iOS. That's a nice tidy profit they made, and now the purchasers are left with no way to enjoy what they've paid for.

The profit Nintendo makes on mobile is relatively small. Their financial report shows mobile and other IP revenue at 3% ($0.5b) of their total revenue ($15b - from Switch) and mobile revenue is primarily driven by Fire Emblem Heroes and Mario Kart Tour:

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2021/annual2103e.pdf

Games like Dr Mario aren't nearly as popular:

https://www.pocketgamer.biz/asia/news/71381/dr-mario-worlds-first-month-revenue-is-nintendos-lowest-on-mobile-to-date/

Any consumer investment in low popularity products is risky because there will inevitably come a time when any for-profit business considers it an unjustified maintenance cost.

archstanton · July 28, 2021 6:52PM

Marvin said:

mr lizard said:

The lesson here is don't invest in any in-app purchases for Nintendo games on iOS. That's a nice tidy profit they made, and now the purchasers are left with no way to enjoy what they've paid for.

The profit Nintendo makes on mobile is relatively small. Their financial report shows mobile and other IP revenue at 3% ($0.5b) of their total revenue ($15b - from Switch) and mobile revenue is primarily driven by Fire Emblem Heroes and Mario Kart Tour:

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2021/annual2103e.pdf

Games like Dr Mario aren't nearly as popular:

https://www.pocketgamer.biz/asia/news/71381/dr-mario-worlds-first-month-revenue-is-nintendos-lowest-on-mobile-to-date/

Any consumer investment in low popularity products is risky because there will inevitably come a time when any for-profit business considers it an unjustified maintenance cost.

This right here.
A company has only so many programmers and engineers and operation costs it can devote to it. The big rev makers get the attention, the Small rev makers can hold on for a bit but ultimately as the revenue tarts to ebb they'll axe it. Companies are in the business to make profit. Gaming is very competitive. As a company you better be spending on that which has profit outlook growth else you'll be sitting on the sideline wondering what you did wrong.

beats · July 28, 2021 8:47PM

Marvin said:

mr lizard said:

The lesson here is don't invest in any in-app purchases for Nintendo games on iOS. That's a nice tidy profit they made, and now the purchasers are left with no way to enjoy what they've paid for.

The profit Nintendo makes on mobile is relatively small. Their financial report shows mobile and other IP revenue at 3% ($0.5b) of their total revenue ($15b - from Switch) and mobile revenue is primarily driven by Fire Emblem Heroes and Mario Kart Tour:

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2021/annual2103e.pdf

Games like Dr Mario aren't nearly as popular:

https://www.pocketgamer.biz/asia/news/71381/dr-mario-worlds-first-month-revenue-is-nintendos-lowest-on-mobile-to-date/

Any consumer investment in low popularity products is risky because there will inevitably come a time when any for-profit business considers it an unjustified maintenance cost.

And that is NINTENDO’s FAULT!!

Nintendo makes some of the shi**iest business decisions in the industry. They’re probably the worst in business direction in the industry. From cancelling the Wii at the peak of hype (imagine Apple discontinuing iPhone 12 in December), disabling voice chat on most online games, to Mario Kart Tour having bots instead of actual people. Oh and don’t get me started on their terrible commercials. I remember a girl telling me Smash Bros “looks boring” because she saw the commercial and “Will Thou Suck?” in huge letters in the Zelda Ocarina of Time commercial which became the most critically acclaimed game in history. Then there was the Mario Run thing that pissed everyone off and the exclusion of peer-to-peer/online battling which made Pokémon Go the most popular game in history overcoming Twitter in active users down to almost nothing (who plays it anymore?).

What holds Nintendo up is their incredible game development and innovations.

pulseimages · July 28, 2021 10:16PM

Nintendo’s approach to mobile games has been frustrating. They refuse to bring Zelda, Metroid or any of their classic titles to the platform. I get that they want to keep the best for themselves but it’s a market that’s bigger than their console business and you don’t have to suffer the Joy Con Drift snafu playing on your phone. I’ve enjoyed Mario Kart and Super Mario Run but everything else has been a yawn.

Nintendo killing 'Dr. Mario World' iOS game in November

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