Nintendo says Super Mario Run will launch on Android in March
Android users can sign up to be notified when the game is released — Super Mario Run, Nintendo's first real foray into mobile gaming, won't be available on Android until March, the company announced in a tweet.
Context & Ripple Effects
Super Mario Run launched on iPhone and iPad on December 15 as a free download with a $10 unlock, but Nintendo gave no Android date at the time — a notable omission given Android's install base. Today's tweet closes that gap with a March window, and signups are already open for notification.
The timing matters because Nintendo's mobile push is deliberate rather than opportunistic: president Tatsumi Kimishima said in late December the company plans 2-3 mobile releases per year starting in 2017. A staggered iOS-first launch on its flagship title sets the template for how those future games will roll out.
First-order effects
- Android users can now pre-register for notifications instead of waiting in the dark, converting months of platform asymmetry into a captured launch-day audience for Nintendo.
- Nintendo keeps the December iOS window exclusive through the holiday season, protecting the $10 full-unlock revenue stream on Apple's platform before splitting attention across two app stores.
Second-order effects
- When the Android version arrives in March it will be judged against an established iOS baseline — pricing at $10 and the free-first-three-levels structure are already set, so Google Play becomes a second revenue leg rather than a fresh experiment.
- A confirmed multi-platform cadence strengthens Kimishima's 2-3-games-per-year pledge: developers and partners can plan around Nintendo treating mobile as a pipeline, not a one-off marketing tie-in.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — console IP ported to phones under a premium-unlock model rather than free-to-play — Nintendo is carving out a third business pillar alongside hardware and software licensing, with each release de-risking the next.
- Platform-staggered launches may become standard for big mobile debuts, letting publishers monetize one ecosystem fully before absorbing the support costs of the second.
The trend: Nintendo is methodically building a recurring mobile publishing business on top of its console IP, with Super Mario Run's staggered iOS-then-Android rollout as the proof of concept for a 2017 slate of 2-3 titles per year.