http://www.polygon.com/2017/4/27/15451060/fire-emblem-heroes-sales-super-mario-run-download

This is pretty surprising. Even though Mario Run has been downloaded 10x more than Fire Emblem and has been available a lot longer than FE, FE made more money on mobile than Mario Run did. 

This just goes to show how much damage IMO iOS/Android has done to the casual gaming market .... they hate, hate, hate, haaaaaate spending money on anything these days. Everything has to be free, even a full featured Mario game on mobile with easy controls for only 10 bucks can't even keep pace with a free-to-play Fire Emblem title, even though Mario Run has 150 million downloads. 

This is why it's pointless for Nintendo to continually chase this market ... these people don't want to pay jack shit for games. Ever. There's still money to be made off mobile for Nintendo, but fundamentally that audience does not believe in paying money for games, and that is contrary to Nintendo's business model. These people can't even pay $10 for a Mario game, they're never going to pay $300 for a game system + $50-$60 a game, iOS/Android has conditioned too many people to expect easy to play games for free, and thousands upon thousands of them. 

Its at least advertising for their IPs.

No shit. There's never been a purchase app that makes remotely as much as the top free-to-play games on mobile.

It worked well for Pokemon Go, but lets be honest, it would could be another 10-15 years before we see something like that again, and it has to kinda sting Nintendo that they weren't really involved much in the development of that. 

Im not sure what more Nintendo could have done to make more money off Pokemon Go tbh. They arent making the regular Pokemon games either, so it might not be up to them.

Free to Start is essentially the way Nintendo should be making their mobile games. Most people who play smartphone games won't buy games on that platform but they sure as hell will pay to make those free games easier or less time consuming.

There's plenty of money for Nintendo to be made with mobile. Fire emblem heroes continues to gross, and I'd bet that it will bring in AT LEAST three times as much as it currently has, lifetime.

Making Mario Run a purchase app was moronic. If they would have properly filled the game with microtransactions, and perhaps added more emphasis on the pvp toad run part of the game, this could have become one of the most valuable assets for nintendo to date.

Idea: mario run maker, free, with microtransactions to give your levels more visibility to other players. I'm sure some idiots desperate forattention would be ready to spend half their income for some quick fame in the online community.

Nintendo wants to see if a pay model could work for smartphones ... but they got their answer ... a resounding no. 

When you have a free-2-start game with micro transactions up against a game that is $10, take a shot in the dark where the casual mobile market will go with, even if the $10 game is Mario.
Miyamoto, take notes.

Good! Hopefully the AC mobile game won't disappoint me.