Nintendo is bringing out two games to smartphones this year, but until now, it is not clear how the company plans to market them. These two games releasing from Nintendo are "Fire Emblem" and "Animal Crossing," and recently, news indicates them being free-to-play games.

Reporting on these two games, The Wall Street Journal states that DeNA Chief Executive Isao Moriyasu indicated that the games would be free-to-download apps. Importantly, DeNA Co. is currently working with Nintendo on "Fire Emblem" and "Animal Crossing," which are expected to release by the time autumn rolls around this year. They are part of four games that DeNA is working on and will be released by March next year.

"Fire Emblem" and "Animal Crossing" are due to land on devices running iOS and Android. However, Nintendo already has one such game in the market in the form of Miitomo, which was their first mobile game that released earlier this year. Since its release, Miitomo has become quite popular, and it is expected that "Fire Emblem," which is a role-playing game, and "Animal Crossing," which is a simulation, will follow suit.

Nintendo had hinted that it was looking into methods to earn revenue from these two games. Last month, the company outlined that its analysts were still divided as to whether the two games should be free-to-play offerings or paid offerings. However, with the latest news about "Fire Emblem" and "Animal Crossing," it appears that the debate has been settled and the games will instead try to generate revenue from in-app purchases. This revenue model has proved to be lucrative and has often been described as one of the best as it helps attract those who don't normally spend money on buying games.

Meanwhile, Nintendo has been reaping the benefits from releasing Miitomo as a free-to-play game as it has already been downloaded 10 million times for smartphones. This popularity of games on smartphones has also helped bring more money to Nintendo as sales of its consoles have fallen and the company is looking for a hit with the upcoming Nintendo NX, which is due to release in March 2017.