Nintendo nears $1.8 billion in global revenue from mobile games

Nintendo’s first foray into mobile gaming came with Miitomo all the way back in 2016. While that game may not have caught on with most mobile gamers, it was an important first step into the industry. Nintendo has been active in the mobile space every since, and it certainly seems to have paid off.

The mobile analysts at Sensor Tower have been crunching the numbers, and they say Nintendo has pulled in an absolutely massive $1,797,000,000 in mobile revenue. Remember, not all of Nintendo’s mobile efforts include monetization, either. This total was amassed through Fire Emblem Heroes, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, Mario Kart Tour, Dragalia Lost, Super Mario Run and Dr. Mario World.

Not surprisingly, Fire Emblem Heroes accounts for the lion’s share of that revenue, bringing in nearly a billion on its own! Other games in Nintendo’s mobile lineup have been slow-but-steady earners, minus Dr. Mario World, which is another mobile effort from Nintendo that never seemed to find a sizable audience…or at least one willing to pay.

Compare the revenue data to the graph above, and things get even more interesting. While Fire Emblem Heroes has an install base of 18 million worldwide, it still manages to blow away the other games in terms of money made. Super Mario Run sits atop the charts for most downloads, but its revenue pull simply can’t compare to Fire Emblem Heroes.

Finally, you can see a year-by-year breakdown in terms of revenue for Nintendo’s big 3 mobile games. Fire Emblem Heroes has remained incredibly strong for the last 3 years, while Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Mario Kart Tour saw sizable pandemic bumps. That said, once again we see that Fire Emblem Heroes is the one to beat.