Sony is preparing to give Nintendo a run for its money in the mobile gaming field, as the tech giant has announced the formation of a new company that will focus solely on games for mobile devices.
The new company, called ForwardWorks, will make titles for mobile gadgets like Apple's iPhones and Google's Android smartphones. While the date for which these titles will debut remains unclear, Sony did say it is currently focusing on providing them to users in Japan in Asia.
"ForwardWorks will leverage the intellectual property of the numerous PlayStation dedicated software titles and its gaming characters...to provide gaming application optimized for smart devices," the Japanese firm said. "The company will aim to deliver users with opportunity to casually enjoy full-fledged game titles in the new filed of the smart device market."
While users in the U.S. and Europe may be disappointed by this news, it doesn't mean that they will definitely miss out on the new games, as there is a chance that the games will be expanded to these areas later on.
"We decided to focus on Japan and Asia for this new initiative because the mobile games are especially large in these regions when compared with other markets," a Sony spokeswoman said.
The announcement comes a week after gaming rival Nintendo launched its first mobile app, called Miitomo, to show its intent to jump into the mobile gaming market. While this market previously seemed like a challenge for these companies due to the overwhelming success in sales they see from consoles like the PlayStation 4, Wii U and Xbox One, Miitomo's progress so far, recording more than 1 million downloads in its first three days, has Nintendo less worried that mobile games would interfere with its console business. Nintendo plans on bringing the game to the U.S. and Europe later this month as well as launch four more smartphone games by March of next year.
ForwardWorks will make its official debut on April 1. Atsushi Morita, chief of PlayStation in Japan and Asia, will serve as president of ForwardWorks, and Andrew House, the new boss of Sony Interactive Entertainment, will be a member of the board.
