Questions have been raised over profitability even as Nintendo premieres its new, highly-anticipated “Super Mario Run” mobile game. This is the first iPhone game released by the Japanese gamemaker.

Technology news site Recode reported that within an hour of its premiere the app became the top downloaded iPhone app in the U.S. after its release globally for iOS users on December 15, 2016. The app is expected to be released on Android devices in early 2017.

He expected 500 million downloads of the Super Mario Run app on the Apple app store by March 2017, Atul Goyal, a senior analyst at Jefferies, said. He added that across operating systems, a total of 1 billion downloads of the app are expected.

The release follows the phenomenal run  of Pokemon Go. Since its release in July this year, Nintendo shares climbed more than 60 percent drive by the popularity of the augmented reality game. Due to its peripheral role in actually developing the game, it became apparent that Nintendo was unlikely to profit significantly from Pokemon Go and share prices later retreated.

On the back of the “Super Mario Run” release, investors remained cautious on Nintendo stocks. Partially due to investor perception that the company’s new mobile push is a risky strategy, shares fell 4.66 percent to 26,300 yen, reflecting a fall of 10.57 percent this week.

The steep price tag attached to the app is partly related pt the problem. unlocking the full game will set users back $9.99 even though “Super Mario Run” is free to download. “Super Mario Run” could ultimately be cheaper than games touting in-app purchases, while its one-off price is higher than other mobile games.

“(Nintendo) stock has got 10 or 15 percent more downside,” D.R. Barton, chief technical analyst at MoneyMorning.com, said. Barton said that the new business model that Nintendo has adopted means that it will take up to a few more weeks before any traction is reflected while he expects the game to eventually gain traction as a nostalgia play.

Some analysts remain upbeat about the popularity and revenue potential of the app nevertheless.

“10 percent or so (of users who download the app) are most likely willing to pay, probably even more,” Goyal said, “In Japan alone, people have bought 25 million 3DS devices for $200 apiece to be able to play Nintendo games. For them to spend $10 to play a Nintendo game on a device they already own (is practically nothing).”

Nintendo’s customer base and revenue stream will expand considerably due to its newfound commitment to mobile, Goyal said. He added that this would be possible as the company would now be able to target the casual gamer market, which numbers around 1 to 2 billion because of the company’s present positioning.

“It’s not the console that you remember … What you remember (are) Nintendo games,” Goyal said, “So don’t look at console versus mobile, it’s the intellectual property (and) the brand that Nintendo brings — Mario, Zelda, Pokemon … plenty others.”

(Adapted from CNBC)