Nintendo to add monthly subscription to Fire Emblem Heroes, its biggest mobile game

Nintendo has revealed that it will soon debut a monthly subscription in Fire Emblem Heroes.

Launching on February 5th at a cost of $9.49 USD/month (about $12.60 CAD), the ‘Feh Pass’ will offer a variety of exclusive content.

Most notably, the Feh Pass will include unique quests, gameplay features (such as a time rewind mechanic like Divine Pulse from Fire Emblem: Three Houses) and resplendent characters — special versions of existing heroes with increased stats and unique outfits. Resplendent characters will be distributed to subscribers twice a month.

Fans haven’t taken well to the Feh Pass, especially since it was timed alongside the game’s third anniversary. On YouTube, the announcement video currently has 16,000 dislikes, compared to only 6,400 likes. Players took to Twitter to voice their discontent as well. Some even noted that the Feh Pass’ exclusive Auto-Start feature — which allows quests to be replayed to earn greater rewards — is offered for free in Nintendo’s own Dragalia Lost mobile game.

FEH Players after the pass was revealed: pic.twitter.com/BZETkUfXVL

— UltimaShadow (2005) (@UltimaShadowX) February 2, 2020

I don't mind Feh Pass, but…I also play Dragalia Lost and it has the same auto-start feature for free, lol

— Øscar #FE (@theprinceofiris) February 2, 2020

I sincerely hope feh pass blows up in their faces but it most likely wont lol

besides the money grab attempt, SHADOWS OF VALENTIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

— PUT VIKALA IN GRANBLUE VERSUS (@Blun_Z) February 2, 2020

https://twitter.com/MysteryMinty/status/1223815645638221824

In any case, Nintendo has a major incentive to further monetize Fire Emblem Heroes, given that the strategy-RPG is its biggest mobile game by far. Last week, a report from mobile analytics firm Sensor Tower noted that Heroes accounts for $656 million USD (about $871 million CAD) of Nintendo’s total $1 billion USD (approximately $1.3 billion CAD) mobile earnings to date.

That said, the Heroes‘ revenue has, naturally, been on the decline since its February 2017 launch. Last year, the game generated $156 million USD (about $207.3 million CAD) — 23 percent less than the $205 million USD brought in throughout 2018, and nearly half of the $295 million raked in during 2017. Therefore, the Feh Pass offers Nintendo a new way to revitalize revenue streams for a three-year-old game, in addition to continuing to offer microtransactions.

Via: Kotaku