Back in June 2019, Nintendo announced Dr. Mario World for mobile devices and launched it in some countries in July of the same year. The match-three puzzle game followed a freemium model where you can download and play the game for free but partake in microtransactions to get in-game currency and power-ups. Today, Nintendo has announced that it is shutting down Dr. Mario World in November.
An update on the game"s website notes that Dr. Mario World will shut down at 6AM UTC on November 1, 2021. Beyond that point, anyone who boots up the title will be treated with a notification informing that service has ended and the game will not be playable. Similarly, in-game diamonds cannot be purchased from today.
While the company has not disclosed the reason for the shutdown, Dr. Mario World had apparently been doing quite poorly in terms of sales reported by third-parties. This is despite the fact that it boasts respectable ratings of 4.6/5 and 4.2/5 ratings on the App Store and the Google Play Store, respectively.
On the other side of the fence, Nintendo"s Fire Emblem Heroes, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, and Dragalia Lost are currently the company"s cash cows on mobile. Finally, two other Mario-related offerings, namely Super Mario Run and Mario Kart Tour are lagging behind in terms of revenue.