Fire Emblem: Awakening Breaks Franchise Sales Records

[StewShearerOld]

Fire Emblem: Awakening Breaks Franchise Sales Records

Fire Emblem: Awakening has sold more copies in its opening month than any other game in the series.

Fire Emblem: Awakening was released for the 3DS early last month and the reception was positive, to say the least. Critics, by and large, has broken franchise sales records, [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/10165-Fire-Emblem-Awakening-Review] selling more than 183,000 copies in its first month. Comparatively, the last entry in the series to make it to North America, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, only sold 250,000 copies total, following its release in 2009.

The success of Awakening is likely a welcome turn for Nintendo and developer Intelligent Systems, especially considering some of the problems that marred the game's launch. While Awakening was slated for a North American release on February 4th, unexpected shipping delays [http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/02/04/fire-emblem-awakening-missing-from-store-shelves] made physical copies rare at retail. For many, the game could only be found on the Nintendo eShop, where it was available for download on its release date. Nintendo has reported, in turn, that some 63,000 copies of Awakening, more than a third of February's total sales, were sold digitally. While this could be attributed to gamers just not having the patience to wait for a physical copy, it's nonetheless a notable success for the eShop and a good demonstration of just how valuable digital sales have become.

With Awakening a success, the question now is where Fire Emblem will go next. Plans to support the game post-launch with DLC [http://kotaku.com/5887212/first-dlc-for-new-fire-emblem-is-free] are already in motion, and a Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei crossover is in the works. That said, one option fans might appreciate exploring would be the re-release of some earlier games that have yet to leave Japan.

When North America received its first Fire Emblem for the Game Boy Advance, it was 2003. The franchise, at that point, was already thirteen years old. While almost every title since has made its way to the United States, there are several that have never had western releases. With the success of Awakening potentially strengthening the Fire Emblem brand abroad, it might be an opportune time for Nintendo to crack open its vaults.

Source: <a href=http://www.polygon.com/2013/3/14/4106060/fire-emblem-awakening-3ds-sells-more-than-180k-in-first-month>Polygon

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[Epona]

Why do the textboxes in screenshots look so much darker than they do on the actual 3DS?

 

[Atmos Duality]

And so, the niche series gets its day in the sun.

As much as I enjoyed my initial playthrough of Awakening, it's really...really shallow and has a rather terrible AI.
The rest of the game is brilliant; looks great, sounds great, has pretty good writing for the most part (though a completely predictable story...par for the course for Fire Emblem).

I'm hoping this encourages Nintendo do more, and do better. I'd love another SRPG or Strategy game with proper difficulty, especially portable.

 

[Mr. Omega]

1: Glad to see that this game is doing well. It's a great game and I've been enjoying the bits of free DLC I've been getting.

2: Seeing just under 200,000 units in a month being described as a great success just seems so... odd given the current market. Yes, it's for a handheld and only one region, but still.

3: I'm hoping with this success Intelligent Systems gets to work on their other Turn-Based Strategy series. Advance Wars 3DS. Make it so.

 

[Omnicrom]

When North America received its first Fire Emblem for the Game Boy Color, it was 2003.

Incorrect actually, Fire Emblem 7 which was the first FE game we got was actually on the Gameboy Advance. There were no Fire Emblem games on Gameboy or Gameboy color.

 

[Legion]

The question on every bodies mind is:

If Legion wanted to get rid of their Xbox, would it be worth trading it in for a 3DS with the game when it releases in April?

 

[xaszatm]

The question on every bodies mind is:

If Legion wanted to get rid of their Xbox, would it be worth trading it in for a 3DS with the game when it releases in April?

Well, I'd say go for it, but it depends on how attached you are to your Xbox games. I greatly enjoy the 3DS library and think it is worth it, especially with the new games coming out.

 

[RaikuFA]

Why do the Japanese insist on keeping so many titles to themselves?

Moviebob actually covered this around the time Rainfall came around. It's (in his opinion) a mixture of hurt pride from being made fun of by western journalists and them thinking "Why bother? It won't sell as well as CoD." He ends it with telling those companies to get over it and to start releasing stuff around the world because pissing off gamers in the long run by not releasing games they want will hurt said companies in the long run when they try crawling back to those gamers after their experiment games fail. See: Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom. Did bad in the States. You ask most people that knew about it why they didn't get it and you'll most likely get "Cause it's Namco Bandai and they refuse to release Tales games."

 

[RaikuFA]

GAH! Double post. My bad. OK everyone, move along, nothing to see here.

 

[Eliwood10]

I love this game, and I love the series! Hopefully this means more games outside Japan.

And I wouldn't mind seeing officially localized releases of the rest of the franchise on the eShop... Hint, hint, Nintendo. You've layed the foundation by referencing the entire history of the franchise in Awakening, time to step up.

Why do the textboxes in screenshots look so much darker than they do on the actual 3DS?

Maybe it's your brightness settings?

 

[Church185]

When North America received its first Fire Emblem for the Game Boy Color, it was 2003. The franchise, at that point, was already thirteen years old. While every title since has made its way to the United States, there are six games that have never had western releases. With the success of Awakening potentially strengthening the Fire Emblem brand abroad, it might be an opportune time for Nintendo to crack open its vaults.

The first Fire Emblem that was released in North America was for the GBA not the GBC.

Also, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is a remake of the very first Fire Emblem game.

EDIT: Also good luck finding a copy of Shadow Dragon. Took me awhile to hunt one down that was under $80.

 

[Hades]

As a big fire emblem fan i'm quite happy to hear this. With the fire emblem before this one never leaving Japan i feared Nintendo was considering falling back into old paterns and that this game failing to sell would make them seriously reconsider giving us more fire emblem. I'm glad the sales haven't given them any reason do do so and hope this will convince them to start remaking more games that have never made it to the west.

Awakening isn't out in Europe yet so i haven't played it but i've got high hopes for this game.

 

[Epona]

I love this game, and I love the series! Hopefully this means more games outside Japan.

And I wouldn't mind seeing officially localized releases of the rest of the franchise on the eShop... Hint, hint, Nintendo. You've layed the foundation by referencing the entire history of the franchise in Awakening, time to step up.

Why do the textboxes in screenshots look so much darker than they do on the actual 3DS?

Maybe it's your brightness settings?

I have never changed it but I will look into that.

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

Really hoping to get myself a copy of this soon. Buyer beware, though, for once Amazon actually has one of the more expensive prices for this game at $52.

Also, I must agree with my friend that now that the characters' lack of feet has been pointed out, it cannot be unseen.

 

[romanator0]

Glad to see Fire Emblem do so well. I personally found Awakening to have the best gameplay and army/unit customization of all the games I've played although I did find it a bit annoying that some of the gear like the long-range spell tomes and the weapons that reverse the weapon triangle weren't put into the game.

Hopefully we can see re-releases of older titles like Fire Emblem 6.

 

[Ritchian]

Amazing what happens when Nintendo remembers to actually do some advertising for a game. People will realize it exists and will buy it.

Seriously, though, it's heartening to see it succeed since so many entries to the series have not, and outside fan translations, are likely never to see the light of day outside of Japan. Fire Emblem is a great series and Awakening is a great game that deserves the praise it's receiving.

 

[GAunderrated]

I've always been a huge fan of Fire Emblem so I am very glad to see that Awakening did so well. I hope they will continue to keep progressing and making Fire Emblem games.

 

[armored mist]

Sorry, I'm new to forums and kinda ignorant, so you're going to have to work without a quote.

This might be splitting hairs, but the reworking of Monsho no Nazo (Mystery of the Emblem), Shin Monsho no Nazo ~Hikari to Kage no Eiyu~, was released in Japan in 2010, but was not released in the United States. This would be the one and only game after Fire Emblem's debut in the United states (#7, Rekka no Ken) to not be released here.