"Fire Emblem Heroes" was released in February, earlier this year. This game is Nintendo's second huge release for mobile devices and has quietly become a success since then. However, having a game like "Fire Emblem" become so successful on a mobile device takes a lot of work.
How 'Fire Emblem Heroes' became so successful
Taking the set up of "Fire Emblem" games and turning it into a mobile game can be difficult. Luckily "Fire Emblem Heroes" still feels like a traditional "Fire Emblem" game, despite the switch to mobile and the free-to-play set-up.
Nintendo had the game developed at Intelligent Systems, where the games have been developed since 1990. They were also sure to keep the turn-based strategy of combat in the game. Even though the game is for mobile devices, it is still very much a strategy game.
Aside from the gameplay in itself, part of the reason this game was so successful was that Nintendo has been heavily listening to player feedback. It's very important for Nintendo to listen to feedback on this mobile game. Creating a game like "Fire Emblem Heroes" is an ongoing process. Unlike a set start and finish as we would see on games released for the Nintendo DS, the mobile game is constantly growing and improving.
The biggest and most important features of "Fire Emblem Heroes" is that it is a free-to-play game.
While there are optional small transactions for things such as unlocking soldiers and building onto your castle, money is not needed to be spent in order to play the game. There are plenty of free goods offered throughout the game for regular players.
The future of 'Fire Emblem'
There are a lot of new hopes for this series, especially with the release of the mobile game.
The goal is to increase popularity of the "Fire Emblem" series and create different routes for newer games to take. Many other games that received mobile counterparts, such as "Pokemon Go," saw an uprise in the games being purchased for other consoles, particularly the Nintendo 3DS. It's definitely possible that people who downloaded the mobile game without any knowledge of the previous games might branch out to explore the other games.
Aside from its mobile counterpart, there are still more plans for "Fire Emblem." We know right now that there are plans for new games on the Nintendo 3DS and on the Nintendo Switch. For now, we wait to see what influence the mobile game may have on games for other Nintendo consoles.