in the recent investor briefing, it was revealed that Fates has sold better in the US than it has in Japan.

edit: actually the last entry sold better in US as well

It's the same with FE:A if we look at Vgchart's data so that tells us nothing ... 

But you can make a FPS game, which is arguably one of the biggest dedicated genres in gaming, that doesn't sell a million. Let's say it falls somewhere at 700.000 units, like F.E.A.R. or Bulletstorm. Would you call this game niche, despite being on a huge genre with a high attach ratio? Would you say Valkyria Chronicles is more niche than these games, despite selling more?

Adding attach ratios only make the situation worse. Just because the SRPG market in general has a low attach ratio, it doesn't simply make it niche; especially when the majority of games on this genre actually do sell better than some games on more successful genres. Heck, OP's situation is basically calling Fire Emblem a new flagship representative franchise for Nintendo, which would mean Nintendo's biggest offering include a SRPG.

your previous post seemed to imply that the series is a hit in Japan, but not in the west. im pointing out that it is more successful in the west.

I know that it is more successful in the west but to what extent is the only thing that matters ... 

Fire Emblem could very well become Nintendo's next Zelda if they play their cards right ... 

the thing is that there are many FPS that sell far more than 700,000 while that number is pretty standard for an SRPG.

you have many mulit-million selling FPS, games like Call of Duty which does like 20 million annually, Destiny has sold over 10 million, Battlefront has sold over 10 million, Battlefield has sold over 10 million more than once, Far Cry has sold like 8 million, Halo always sells over 5 million. Throughout the years there have been many other multi-million FPS, Goldeneye, Medal of Honor, Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, Perfect Dark.

the FPS shooter genre is not niche, its one of the most popular genre on consoles in the last 20 years and makes up a very large percentage of overall software sales, the same cannot be said for SRPG.

I mean, I don't disagree with this notion of FPS being king, but you basically ignored the question I posed regarding Valkyria Chronicles and Fire Emblem being now a flagship Nintendo IP.

just because Valkyria Chronicles has sold better than a few FPS doesnt stop it from being niche. Valkyria Chronicles is one of the best selling games in the genre while the FPS you gave as examples are very, very low on the list for FPS.

F.E.A.R. or Bulletstorm probably arent even in the top 100 best selling FPS while Valkyria is probably in the top 10 for SRPG. the fact that these low selling FPS rival the sales of some of the best selling SRPG shows how niche the SRPG genre is.

as for Fire Emblem being a flagship Nintendo IP, thats what Nintendo seems to specialize in, finding their niche by making successful games in genres that arent typically big sellers or taking a popular genre and making it their own, which in turn makes it their niche.

arcade racers havent really been a big genre for awhile now, despite that Mario Kart is a huge seller. JRPG overall are somewhat niche in the west, yet Pokemon is a huge seller. there really hasnt been any big successful brawlers like Smash Bros, its basically in a sub-genre of its own. life simulators were big on PC thanks to games like Sims but was never a big genre on handhelds, that is until Animal Crossing, Nintendogs & Tomodachi Life.

i guess what im trying to say is that Nintendo has been able to take various niche or hardcore genres and somewhat casualize them in order to make them appeal to a wider audience.

I think it has potential, for sure. The franchise has only been increasing in popularity, so the more exposure it gets, the better. Fates did an excellent job at appealing to both fans of the older games (like myself), while still making the game accessible to newcomers...which I'd say is the real key to growing the franchise.

Still, I imagine appearing on phones will be more of an advertisement for the series, rather than a new platform for it. Though we'll see...we should get more information this year.

ya, the main goal of the mobile game is likely to increase brand awareness and increase interest in the next game on dedicated gaming devices.