And its seems those realisation times — times when huge, vintage gaming corporations finally realised that mobile gaming is a thing now — are here. After Nintendo’s decision to release its first mobile game ever, its now Sony, which has announced plans to make Playstation games for iOS and Android platforms (via TechCrunch).
The announcement was actually morphed inside a more broader one — formation of ForwardWorks Corporation, a company under Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (which will also re-christen to Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (SIE)).
According to the company,
ForwardWorks Corporation (ForwardWorks) is a new company that is aimed to deploy new services toward the ever-expanding smart device market.
In a nutshell, ForwardWorks will be the new Sony Interactive Entertainment’s mobile gaming arm, which will go on to develop titles, specifically for iOS and Android platforms. The company is expected to start operations from April 1 this year.
The company says that ForwardWorks will leverage the intellectual property of the numerous PlayStation dedicated software titles and its gaming characters. The new, aptly named ForwardWorks division will also take cue from the knowledge and know-how of gaming development expertise which was acquired over the years with PlayStation business to provide gaming application optimized for smart devices.
There is a catch to this though. Smartphone owners in the US and European countries might have to wait a tad longer before they start playing original Playstation titles on their iOS or Android devices. This is because Sony has announced these plans solely for the Japanese and Asian markets, with no word on when would the western market see a launch.
We will perhaps get to know more about this on April 1st — the date when Sony Computer Entertainment renames to Sony Interactive Entertainment. Till then, stay tuned.
