Why Super Mario Run was a flop and we should've seen it coming

“Super Mario Run is no longer the highest grossing app anywhere”. This is the headline Nintendo woke up to less than two weeks after the game's release. Nintendo's shares plummeted hours after the game was launched, due to bad user reviews and slow sales that resulted in disappointed investors. It is safe to say that “Super Mario Run” was not the smash hit everyone expected it to be.

If I have to describe the entire game in one word, it would have to be “trainwreck”. It just failed to deliver on all fronts. It disappointed gamers, it drove investors away and it had a ...