Nintendo’s fantasy strategy role-playing game is bigger than ever.
The Japanese publisher released Fire Emblem: Awakening on Feb. 4, but it failed to crack The NPD Group’s top 10 best-selling games for February. Nintendo explains that that’s only because more than a third of the game’s sales were through the digital Nintendo 3DS eShop, which NPD doesn’t track.
Nintendo provided GamesBeat with the following statement:
Building off its 92 Metacritic score, Fire Emblem Awakening for Nintendo 3DS had the best first month sales in franchise history, selling more than 180,000 units — more than 117,000 at retail and more than 63,000 digital units. By comparison, the previous hand-held entrant in the franchise – Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon – has sold a little more than 250,000 units life to date in the U.S. Fire Emblem Awakening sold 70 percent of that figure in just 28 days
Clearly, Nintendo is proud of the title’s performance. The company rarely trots out specific numbers like this.
By all accounts (including my own many hours with the game), Fire Emblem deserves the financial success. It’s one of the best games on the 3D portable — with high-quality visuals, great writing, and amazing game design.