If a game can earn you $295 million in one year, most would take that as a win. Fire Emblem Heroes has done exactly that: in its first full year of worldwide release, the mobile Fire Emblem game has grossed five-times as much money as Super Mario Run did in the same timeframe, while becoming Nintendo’s highest-earning mobile game to date.
Fire Emblem Heroes was released to the mobile market back on February 2, 2017, to mostly praise, and since has provided to be popular with both the traditional Japanese market, as well as the Western side, which is probably a factor in how the game has sustained itself. The Japanese market made up 59% of the revenue share, while the United States sat at 29%. That’s stellar performance for a franchise outside of Japan. On the contrary, games like Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp are currently split 82%/13% for revenue share.
Remember, too, that while Pokemon GO made over $1.1 billion in its first year, the game isn’t made or published by Nintendo, and they only own 32% of The Pokémon Company. Also, while Super Mario Run only earned $56 million its first year, the game itself was a paid game costing $9.99, whereas Fire Emblem Heroes takes the freemium approach, let players pay for things they want while the whole game is accessible.
All that said, this should bode well, from a profit perspective, for the next DeNA and Nintendo partnership mobile game, Mario Kart Tour, set to drop by March 2019. As we mentioned before, though, Mario Kart Tour will be a free-to-start, meaning it will probably take the same form of Super Mario Run, rather than that of Fire Emblem Heroes.
Caleb has been a gamer and Nintendo fan since picking up Pokémon Red for his Game Boy back in 1998, at the wee age of 4. He’s an avid Pokémon TCG collector, and is currently enjoying Breath of the Wild on Switch, along with PUBG on Xbox. He’s a fan of the outdoors when not writing, while also being an avid runner and world traveler. Give him a shout if you’re a fan of Arsenal FC.
Plays: Switch, 3DS, Xbox One, Pokémon TCG, and Various Board Games.