Fire Emblem Heroes is the undisputed king of Nintendo's mobile games. It took just 20 days for players to spend $50 million on the game when it was released in the first quarter of 2017 and since then it has grossed more than $400 million. It doesn't look like the success of this mobile title will be slowing down any time soon, either. According to Sensor Tower, Fire Emblem Heroes grossed $16.8 million in the month of September.
Japanese players are still noted as the main player base - making up 55 percent of all-time player spending. In the month of September, Japanese players spent $9.1 million on the game, which equates to 54 percent of gross revenue. The game also saw audience growth in Japan, with a 37 percent increase in downloads of the game compared to the previous month. Taking into account recent earnings, Fire Emblem Heroes has now grossed $437 million. It's also been downloaded 14.1 million times.
Are you impressed by the amount that has been spent on this mobile title by players around the world? Do you play Fire Emblem Heroes yourself? Have you done any transactions in the game before? Tell us below.
[source sensortower.com]
Comments 34
Happy for them but I found the game kinda dull. I'm shocked it's doing so well.
The offers lately have been rather tempting. I lucked out since I went in with the intention of only spending money for L'Arachel and got her on my first purchase of orbs. I might spend again if I can't get Laevatein or Halloween Myrrh before the last day.
It's a dumbed down version of Fire Emblem across the board that prey's on people's addiction to gambling to try and get their favorite characters. From a companies point of view, it's a great way to make money, but in terms of game design, it's poor and takes advantage of the consumer.
I wont claim I am not tempted. I love the Fire Emblem series, and this game gives us all the great official art, and because of this game, many older FE character (Lyn in particular, a long time personal favorite) have seen a resurgence of popularity.
But I still have way more fun playing the real Fire Emblem games. And I don't hate myself after the fact, because there is no temptation to waste money while I am playing those.
Every time I see an article like this it makes my heart sink.
What are the odds Nintendo drops real games for this pay to get things model?
Every game that I have played that has in game purchasing has had an unrefined garbage feel to it. It's almost a default that if there is in game purchases that the menus are garbage too.
I don't know why you or anyone would spend money on a game (the FtP model). All money gets you is different characters, which largely doesn't matter. You get a team of 4 or 5 stars and if you play the tactics right you win. Although I've heard there is a battle mode.
I find it baffling that people out there are spending more money in this than a real Fire Emblem game would cost. The modern world really is crazy when you think about it and people are very easily exploited
I got into the game this past February or so... it's sure addicting to level up your characters and try to roll for your favorite characters, and they keep releasing new banners about every week, so the content keeps coming. I agree that the tactics in this game is nearly non-existent (and since I've played this game a lot I've noticed that my skills in regular FE games have gone down quite a bit, unfortunately), but it's still pretty fun to play in short bursts to get a few orbs and roll once every few days.
I still haven't dropped any actual money on the game, though, so I'm not a part of that $16.8M
Fire Emblem Heroes is great, no wonder it's doing so well.
Don't listen to hater that either drop the game right away or didn't bother to play it at all.
It's a nice little mobile game. It's not a full fledge Fire Emblem game but it doesn't need to be.
It's the "game" that the mobile users want
Stupid pay to win grinding game. It no success for us consumers that such a game is a financial success for Nintendo.
While the quite decent "pay up front and never again game" Super Mario Run was only a medium financial success.
It no good to us consumers that these kind of "pay to win" games has such massive success.
People who are paying these micro transactions in small stupid mobile games should be ashamed of them selves.
Nice news. I hope to invest those money for console games.
"another"?
It is BY FAR their biggest mobile success, and has been from the beginning.
@Mailman The game is somewhat devoid of tactics in its current state, but not in the way you think it is.
Let's just say that powercreep has made a lot of the older PvE content a pushover, grinding for feathers has become trivial thanks to 0-cost GHBs and Grand Conquests...and that in itself renders "Stamina" worthless.
Team composition is still important (especially in the PvP modes), though, but considering IS and their lack of care or inability to balance the game, that's dulled quite a lot.
Wow, 14.1 million is not a massive amount of downloads to generate that much money. Must be plenty of whales in that particular ocean.
Ah yes Fire Emblem Heroes, a game that never support many countries, even the earnings are so much greedy, why can't they just release it worldwide for real? Still harassing Nintendo even for what they do with laziness of handling other countries.
I still dip into it now and again. It's like Diet Fire Emblem.
Maybe I worry too much, but seeing these gacha games and F2P mobile titles work so well makes me a little uneasy.
All I know is that the moment any of these sorts of payment models crosses over into Nintendo's main games is the point where I fully embrace retro and PC gaming.
I haven't spend anything on FEH and I can still play just fine.Yes I might not have all the "top" units but I have enough (And I have all four Xanders. All that woman needs. Even those are not the best unit)
FE fanbase is fanatic. And this is wonderful honeytrap for them.
This game is one of the reasons I dislike modern Fire Emblem, and it pains me so much to say that as a hardcore fan of the series. Like most of the other haters here, gonna have to chime in and say I really hate this game. Not so much for existing but because it makes me really fear for the future of the franchise. Between this and all the blatant Fate/Awakening pandering in FE Warriors, I feel like the spirit of FE has died.
One counter argument I often hear is how much more successful FE has become, but at what cost? Sure it's financially successful but it's coming at the cost of the franchise's soul. Games like this are just nails in the coffin for me. That's usually why I don't post on these Heroes discussions, but this time I felt the need to say something. Makes me feel a bit better to see others feeling the same way. It seems even the newcomers are annoyed by Heroes.
Also, I want to punch the person who thought it was okay to put Lyn in a wedding dress. >_<
@Onion I'm happy that hardcore fans are sad that this series turned out like this
it shows hardcore fans are way too few and could not keep this series afloat, meanwhile normal people that play games because they are fun are not only keeping fire emblem alive but made it a fundamental pillar for Nintendo.
As long as we keep getting full released complete games i have no problems with these gacha games; i might even put some money on dragalia lost actually.
Keep'em coming nintendo, as long as you give us the full stuff i have no complains on these gacha games making you rich
It’s fun. A little bit much to do in my opinion for a mobile game but I guess that’s not a bad thing. Never spending in this game though. Not that important to me to get all the characters, etc.
I really enjoyed FEH for a while... it sparked my interest for the main series and was actually fun to play, but I never felt the urge to spend any money as the offer of free orbs was generous
ended uninstalling the app because it required an unreasonable amount of disk space
I'm far more surprised by the amount because the game is so generous you don't actually need to spend any money on it unless you REALLY can't live without that one character.
@nagash they added a new mode that makes the game go from 1.2 GB to .3 GB. Just in case you're interested.
I restarted this game twice already but gave up. Will try one more time. Always want to support Nintendo.
@BensonUii The reason us "hardcore gamers" hate the microtransactions in these types of gacha games is that they're similar to EA's lootboxes. In that they're flat out designed to press the same buttons that casinos do to get you to gamble more.
Even worse, games like this tend to add an extra level of abstraction by allowing you to purchase ingame currency, making it easier to spend on expensive items. A lot of the whales we mention aren't even aware they're whales, until they get calls from their bank or have it pointed out to them.
I've started occasionally playing this over the past couple of weeks. It's fun for what it is: a stripped-down version of Fire Emblem. I prefer the actual games, but it's one of the better mobile games I've played. I at least plan to finish the story mode.
@BensonUii I don't see how it being a mobile game excuses exploitative business practices. If I'm going to rag on EA for doing the same thing, I'm not going to make an exception here, just because it's Nintendo. I like to stay intellectually consistent that way.
I'm kind of surprised at all the saltiness towards this game. I've definitely dropped out of several mobile games because of "pay to win" formulas, but I actually find FE:H to be pretty forgiving in those regards.
Without ever spending a single dollar, I'm easily able to hoard 100+ orbs to drop on legendary banners, and I have more 5☆ heroes than I know what to do with. I've only got a couple of level 40+10 characters, though if I spent all my feathers I could probably get a couple more.
Now, if you're competively aiming for the top tier in arena battles, I can absolutely understand the frustration going against teams of nothing but +10 merges of the best characters availble.
But I play daily and still find myself with more quests and missions than I'm able to keep up with. There's never been a moment where I have nothing to do or strive towards. And most importantly I've never once had to run into the "That's all you can play for the day until you pay real money" issue, which have definitely been the bane of many other free to start games.
Is it better than a main line Fire Emblem title? Absolutely not. Play those games. They have such a rich story and the battles require fairly deep strategies. Permadeath makes the stakes so much higher for every battle.
Now, I will concede that the fanservice goes way overboard. Those Easter events in particular are just straight up shameless.
@BensonUii I don't think you're getting the point of my posts. I'm saying certain microtransaction tactics, especially random packs, are a bit exploitative and you keep bringing up that it's more profitable than not doing them... Dude, what?
@BensonUii
I don't like these kind of micro transactions games, no matter what. I will not support them.
These games are designed for a specific goal, and that is to attract whales who will spend endless of money on them. I can't support that.
I only support games that are designed to give it's audience a great gameplay experience, and nothing else.
Super Mario Run was not unsuccessful. It still made a lot of money, but not as much as many micro transactions games. It's a decent game for the amount Nintendo charges for it upfront. And it later got a lot of great extra content, that didn't cost anything extra.
And there are actually some other good games on mobile that is not using the "Free to play" and "Pay to win" methods, that I think people should support more. They only require a small fee upfront, and nothing more.
Small stupid games like FE: Heroes or Candy Crush is just making way to much money with their micro transactions, for what they are worth.
It's only greed from the companies behind them, that is the reason for thier existence. And their only goal is to get as much money from weak souls as possible. I will not support trash like that.
cries in -def +spd Brave Hector
@BensonUii
For the record not all micro-transaction games are on equal footing in terms of being exploitative.
Gacha games and loot boxes IMO are worse than "pay 99 cents to refresh your stamina" type micro transactions. The first type is like a slot machine, in several ways. The second is more like any normal arcade game.
I'm totally okay with micro transaction games like king of thieves too, where you know what you're buying. Not my thing exactly but it's not nearly as predatory as "blind" random purchases.
Anyway. FWIW.
I account for probably $30US of revenue since the game launched in February 2017. None in the past 6 months, and I intend to keep it that way.
It was a good game at launch, especially for something you could use a single hand to play, and play even if you only had 3 or 4 minutes to spare. It's still good IMO, which is why I keep playing. But at this point it's WAAAAY over designed.
@Faruko
Wow, triggered much? I feel like I shouldn't have used the word "hardcore" as it seems to be a trigger-word for you and brought out some kind of insecurity. My post was never about hardcores or casuals, you took that one word and made a big, pointless spiel about it. People like you are exactly why I refrained from posting anything negative about the game in the past, because I knew it'd trigger some insecure gamer out there who would take my distaste for a mobile game as some kind of personal attack. I mean, seriously, one comment about being a hardcore fan was enough to set you off? The part that makes you sound especially petty is "I'm happy that hardcores are sad". Really? REALLY? There was nothing in my post that was mean-spirited towards new or casual fans, so I don't get that level of spitefulness at all. You're a real charming person.
But yeah, congrats on speaking like someone truly ignorant about the franchise. It was ALWAYS a fundamental pillar for Nintendo, why do you think Marth and Roy appeared in Melee? The series was always relevant and successful in Japan, the series didn't come into the west until the 7th game in the franchise. Even Final Fantasy had more of a presence outside of Japan. Once the series DID come to the west, it enjoyed poor to non-existent marketing. Despite that, those "hardcore fans" you claim are such a minority managed to keep the series afloat for 13 games.
Besides, both hardcore fans and new fans bought Awakening and Fates, and those were the games that truly brought FE back from the brink and helped make them mainstream. Heroes is just a quick cash grab that piles on fanservice and pay to win mechanics and at times, deliberately contradicts or poorly represents the characters. Besides that, hardcore FE fans or not, a LOT of gamers are going to dislike it simply on the grounds it's a gacha game. Gamers haven't yet come around to the idea of paying for lootboxes and such, even if Heroes is relatively generous. To a lot of gamers, the skill required to play is replaced by gambling mechanics or how much someone is willing to spend. You could even argue it plays on people with obsession complexes, but I digress. None of that really applies to me, just pointing out that people disliking Heroes go way beyond being "hardcore" or not.
A lot of people don't like Heroes. Deal with it. It's called having opinions. Even the people who DO like it concede that it's not as good as an actual FE title, and that's what has me concerned. If Nintendo is making mad bank on Heroes, what incentive do they have to work on real FE games? What if they shift focus from actual FE to Heroes? I doubt it'd happen, but with some of the decisions they've made lately, it wouldn't surprise me. Since you yourself stated that "as long as they keep releasing full games", that implies you wouldn't want Nintendo to shift too much focus on this whole gacha thing either, so I'm a little confused as to why you're even trying to @ me, other than the fact I used the word "hardcore".
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...