Reports have surfaced that Nintendo's next two mobile games will offer players the opportunity to play for free, although the titles will also include microtransactions.
The company previously announced that its next two mobile titles will revolve around the Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem franchises, but whatever those games end up looking and playing like, they will both be free-to-play.
The Wall Street journal reports that this information comes directly from DeNA, who created Miitomo, Nintendo's social media game that launched earlier this year: that title has already seen more than 10 million downloads.
DeNA told the newspaper that both new mobile games are "free-to-start," meaning that players can download the games for free and begin playing them immediately at no additional cost. Microtransactions, though, will assist further gameplay. There is no information yet on what those microtransactions will entail or how much they might cost.
Nintendo is no stranger to this kind of model: both Pokémon Shuffle and Pokémon Rumble World for the 3DS are free-to-play, but players must have energy to keep playing once they run out of in-game currency. Nintendo Badge Arcade offers free daily plays, but offers microtransactions for those who want to collect additional badges within a 24-hour period.
Nintendo offered a few details about both new games upon their announcement.
"Compared to Miitomo, they have more prominent game elements, and the game content will tie closely into Nintendo's dedicated games business," Nintendo wrote in a press release. "Nintendo will provide more details about these applications closer to their launch period, and aims to have multiple types of apps that appeal to different audiences and different groups of players."
The Fire Emblem mobile game is a role-playing strategy game, while the Animal Crossing mobile game "will be connected with the world of Animal Crossing for dedicated gaming systems." That means that it will probably have the same community simulation gameplay elements as previous titles in the franchise.
Nintendo expects to release both games this fall in the United States and the UK, followed by an Australian release in spring 2016. Meanwhile, the company has plans to release its next console, the Nintendo NX, sometime next year.
