During Google’s “Play Time 2017” event, which celebrated popular games and apps on the Google Play Store, Fire Emblem Heroes scooped the “Best Game of 2017” award. This information comes from Famitsu App.
From what we understand, only games released before late 2016 are eligible for this award. In addition, this award only applies to the Japanese region. Still, it’s a huge achievement nonetheless and the developers seem very proud.
Speaking of which, Famitsu App managed to briefly interview the developers after receiving the award. Below you can find a translation of the interview, which Reddit user drnged quickly and very kindly translated for us.
Q: What issues did you encounter when creating a mobile game?
Maeda: It has to be how the game is never-ending, unlike a typical consumer game. We had to come up with new content constantly, and none of us were used to such a process, so it ended up being quite a big problem.
Q: What do you think were the main factors in Fire Emblem Heroes winning this award?
Matsushita: I’m still in a state of shock, so my honest answer would be “I don’t know.” But I do believe one of the key factors was our receptiveness to playerbase, and incorporating their views by making appropriate changes to the game. We want to keep answering the expectations of our fans, so we’ll continue to make sure we keep a finger on the community’s pulse. Even if that’s the only thing we get credit for, that’d be good enough for me.
Q: Would receiving this award give you more confidence to develop more mobile games?
Matsushita: We’re at least more confident now than we were before, but we’re still taking baby steps. There’s still a lot to learn about developing phone games, so I can’t say we’re fully confident in ourselves yet. (wry smile)
Q: Nintendo have been developing and releasing several phone games recently. What do you think are the biggest differences between developing for a phone game, and developing for a consumer game?
Maeda: For consumer games, once it’s released, there’s usually a period of calm. Even the general reception to the game usually takes some time to eventually form. For phone games, any new content you release usually gets feedback within the same day. I believe this to be the biggest difference between the two types of games.
Q: Do you have any aspirations for 2018?
Matsushita: I hope to do my best to keep our playerbase supporting us!
Maeda: Phone games have the advantage of being accessible to people all over the world. I hope we will be doing our best to keep our fans worldwide in love with our game.
Q: Receiving this award may well encourage more people to start playing Fire Emblem Heroes. Would you like to leave a message for them?
Matsushita: Start playing from the second arc, please! (laughs) You’ll get a really strong character after finishing it, which I believe would help you enjoy the game even more. We’ll be making more adjustments to help new players enjoy the game, so please look forward to it.
