When the first Fire Emblem game was released in Japan in the year 1990, it sold a modest (for the time) 330,000 copies on the Super Famicom.
Over the next few years, Fire Emblem grew into a series that would see its share of ups and downs in Japan, with games like Mystery of the Emblem moving as many as 776,000 copies and others like Thracia 776 and Radiant Dawn less than a third of that figure.
Now that Fire Emblem: Awakening and Fire Emblem: Fates have properly reintroduced the series to a modern mainstream audience, it’s interesting to look through the sales history of the entire franchise to inspect how Fire Emblem has grown, declined, and then grown again over the years.
Here’s a look at the series’ sales since its very first release up until now:
A few points to note:
- All data is for retail sales only. No digital sales included.
- Thracia 776 is the lowest the series has ever sunk, with Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn only slightly higher.
- Based on their production values, it’s safe to assume that the the modern Fire Emblem games–Awakening and Fates–were much more expensive to produce than any title prior. However, their global sales have helped offset these costs significantly, which makes their budget much more justifiable.
- Counting digital sales and overall shipments to retailers, Fire Emblem Fates has moved 780,000 copies in Japan. This makes it the most successful Fire Emblem game to date, both in Japan and in the West. Total worldwide sales as of March 31st, 2016 were 1.84 million units.
- Sales data sourced from official Nintendo figures and Media Create. Data for the older games is from an old court document Nintendo filed while suing series creator Shouzou Kaga, for leaving the company and working on a similar competing game, Tear Ring Saga, for PlayStation consoles.
- Finally, total lifetime sales for The Binding Blade, Fire Emblem, Sacred Stones, and Path of Radiance are from publisher Enterbrain, as I was unable to locate data for these games from Nintendo or Media Create.
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