Hot Five: Fire Emblem Heroes’ voting power, Candy Crush Solitaire broadens the brand, and Pokémon TCG Pocket hits half a billion dollars

To help get you primed and ready for another week in mobile gaming, we’ve curated the biggest stories you need to know from the last seven days.

1) Nintendo’s Fire Emblem Heroes: eight years, $1.3bn revenue and the value of player voting

Nintendo and Intelligent Systems’ Fire Emblem Heroes celebrated its eighth anniversary on February 2nd with almost $1.3 billion in gross lifetime player spending, according to AppMagic estimates.

The strategy RPG’s status as Nintendo’s most lucrative mobile game has been secure for a number of years, having outearned the Japanese giant’s second and third-biggest mobile games combined.

2) Nexon’s Mabinogi Mobile set to release in March 2025

Nexon’s mobile version of MMORPG Mabinogi is set for a March 2025 release, more than four years on from its original reveal.

Originally a 2004 PC title in South Korea, the Mabinogi Mobile adaptation is expected to blend nostalgia with fresh storylines, characters, gameplay and adventures.

3) Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket rockets past $500m in just 22 days more than Pokémon Go

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket surpassed $500 million in 97 days since global launch, having reached a new peak of $11 million in daily revenue on February 1st.

According to AppMagic data, record revenue was achieved in the days following the Space-Time Smackdown expansion’s release, which added over 140 new cards.

4) King’s new release puts a Candy Crush twist on a classic card game

King’s first fully launched new game in five years, Candy Crush Solitaire has released globally on the App Store, Google Play and alternative stores, broadening the Candy Crush IP outside of match-3.

We spoke with executive producer Marta Cortinas about the game’s development process, long-term goals and features “fans will instantly recognise”.

5) Nintendo Switch sales surpass 150m units, but company profits down 42%

Nintendo generated ¥956.2 billion ($6.2 billion) in revenue over the first three quarters of its current fiscal year, with a net profit of ¥237.1 billion ($1.5 billion).

Both figures have declined year-on-year with a slowdown in Nintendo Switch hardware and software sales during the console’s eighth year, but even so, the period also saw lifetime Switch sales surpass 150 million units.