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"Less than a half-day after its release, [Fire Emblem Heroes] had been downloaded over a million times, and we’re seeing revenue today at $5 million U.S. dollars," Nintendo chief Kimishima tells Time.

Alex Wawro, Contributor

February 8, 2017

2 Min Read

"Less than a half-day after its release, [Fire Emblem Heroes] had been downloaded over a million times, and we’re seeing revenue today at $5 million U.S. dollars."

- Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima, speaking to Time.

The folks over at Time recently published a handful of interviews with Nintendo execs, and among them was a chat with Nintendo chief Tatsumi Kimishima that sheds some light on where the company is at in 2017.

His thoughts on Nintendo's mobile game business are especially notable, as Kimishima gets prodded about the earnings potential of mobile games and speaks to how the company's monetization efforts are faring now that it has the free-to-play games MiitomoSuper Mario Run, and Fire Emblem Heroes in the field.

"We’re experimenting with different types of monetization," Kimishima said, after noting that while Nintendo hasn't quite reached its goal of 10 percent of Super Mario Run players paying to unlock the full game, it's close. "There’s the type I mentioned we’re using with Super Mario Run, and the different style we’re using with Fire Emblem Heroes. As a result of these experiments with monetization styles, we’re gaining what you might call confidence in our mobile business efforts."

He also noted that Heroes was downloaded over a million times less than a day after its release last week, and that by now it's generated over $5 million in revenue thanks to its "gacha" monetization system.

That's a significant chunk of change, but it's not all Kimishima spoke to in his time with Time. The rest of the interview is well worth reading if you're curious about the Nintendo chief's thoughts on everything from VR ("we are interested and doing research") to his comfort as president of the company ("if I can help create at least one more unique thing for Nintendo to bring to the world, I think I'll be really happy.") 

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