Nokia shifts focus from gaming

By Games Industry.biz Published 25 November, 2005

Admits N-Gage 'not a success'.

Nokia's VP of corporate strategy, Antii Vasara, has confirmed that there are no plans to develop future versions of the N-Gage as the company turns its focus towards other mobile entertainment media.

Speaking to Vnunet, Vasara admitted that the N-Gage did not achieve projected targets, stating: "N-Gage is still being sold but it was not a success in the sense of developing a new category.

"We learnt that people want to play games on all devices. As such we are integrating the gaming software into Series 60 phones."

Nokia will now focus on mobile TV and music with the introduction of handsets such as the N91 - a smartphone that can hold up to 3000 music tracks.

According to Vasara, Nokia will place a greater emphasis on mobile gaming in 2007, by which time screen sizes and quality will allow for better games.

Support for the existing N-Gage and N-Gage QD handsets continues, despite the fact that there are no plans to introduce further iterations in the series. Nokia recently announced the release of a raft of new software, and launched a new online store selling hardware and accessories. The company also continues to run N-Gage Arena, the mobile equivalent to Microsoft's Xbox Live online gaming service.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • djchump #1 6 years ago

    lol - no big surprise there then.

    Now we just have to wait for people behind Gizmondo and Infinium Phantom to say "actually, it was a crap idea all along and we really didn't try hard enough".

  • Teeth #2 6 years ago

    From my understanding of it Infinium and Gizmondo have tried their very best to keep going in spite of overwhelming odds, and at least until now, have succeeded.

    For example, I imagine it is extremely difficult to find enough suitably gullible investors that would be willing to fund the Infinium dream for as long as they have with no product, and no return.

  • TheDifficult3rdAlbum #3 6 years ago

    Well, Nokia's still putting a lot of money into this area, they're just not branding it N-Gage anymore.

    On the whole mobile/phone gaming is a massively expanding area.

    But yeah, Gizmondo = Not Teh Win

  • AOFanboi #4 6 years ago

    How have Infinium "succeeded"? They do not have any product, they generally only appear in the news when one of their directors quit or get arrested for mafia history, and appear more to burn money than anything else.

  • BartonFink #5 6 years ago

    Jaybus no shit Sherlock, we could have told Nokia that years ago.

  • Galvanizer #6 6 years ago

    I love my N-Gage QD!

    /Kisses phone

  • Ignatius_Cheese #7 6 years ago

    *starts a slow handclap*

  • Royal Fool #8 6 years ago

    /watches N-Gage launch video again

    /laughs

  • Teeth #9 6 years ago

    " How have Infinium "succeeded"?"

    It depends what their goals were. If it was "get as much money as we can whilst having no product so we can all live the high life and take a load of moronic investors for a ride" then I'd say they did pretty well.

  • Teeth #10 6 years ago

    You might also say the same for Gizmondo, by only replacing "no product" with "bare minimum of product".

  • Tweakmonkey #11 6 years ago

    Nice try but we all new it wouldn't work.

  • Xerx3s #12 6 years ago

    meh.

  • Salaman #13 6 years ago

    AOFAnboy, you didn't read Teeth's second paragraph now did you?
    ;-)

  • saku #14 6 years ago

    I'm a huge fan of my N-Gage (the classic version). It's always hilarious when someone borrows my phone for the first time and discovers the joy of sidetalking :)

  • SeesThroughAll #15 6 years ago

    "Okay, okay, so the N-Gage was not exactly a success..."

    Aaaaaw.... REALLY??

  • Sko #16 6 years ago

    So from going after the Gameboy's market and failing, they've switched targets to the Ipod's market?

  • Retroid #17 6 years ago

    The Symbian platform is fantastic for a whole bunch of apps and games, not to mention ports of existing engines and emulators...

    /Strokes 'classic' Ngage

    Plus, mine has a radio and works as a USB mass storage device when I connect with USB, so it's taken the place of at least three gizmos in my pocket! \o/

    Nokia have proven themselves clueless from the very start on this. The hardware is great but their design decisions and marketing have been bloody terrible.

  • Artemis_Matsas #18 6 years ago

    R.I.P

  • cawley1 #19 6 years ago

    As much as we all cuss the Gizmondo, I have a look at it in the rack at Comet everytime I go there - eventually it will go tits-up, and hopefully I will get a GPS for a bargain price, and another failed piece of gaming hardware to go next to the Virtual Boy in the collection!
    Have to say ALL the games they have there look absolutely shite, seems to me even the Zodiac had better titles!

  • zErOb_cOOl #20 6 years ago

    The N-Gage (especially the more recent QD) seemed pointless to me. Ok the controlls are set out like a Gamegear/PSP etc, but standard series 60 phones are smaller and can play tons of games, and can even emulate the Megadrive/SNES. If I'm not mistaken there are 'N-Gage only' games which will only work on the N-gage platform, but this is the only thing that seperates the N-game from a standard S60 phone (although 'm sure I've seen software for S60 phones to play N-Gage games on. Besides, I have Doom on my S60 phone (thanks Koti) which is better than any N-gage only game, as I don't think I've seen one N-Gage game that has tempted to buy one.

    BUT, as a phone the N-Gage Taco sucks. Its no where near as good as a standard S60 handset, and it loses big time there. I really don't know what market niche Nokia were even trying to appeal to in the first place TBH.

  • The-Bodybuilder #21 6 years ago

    >"It's always hilarious when someone borrows my phone for the first time and discovers the joy of sidetalking :)"

    Otherwise known as "Taco Talking Technology".

  • caligari #22 6 years ago

    Do the guys from Nintendo get to feed on the N-Gage carcass?
    Edited by 1 at 27/11/05 @ 19:04

  • Nemesis #23 6 years ago

    Ahhh, but who could forget the price keynote.




    /small shudder

  • MORZTAN #24 6 years ago

    "To Infinium, and BEYOND!!"

  • kaosridder #25 6 years ago

    best phone ive owned. radio, mp3, movies, usbcard, c-64 & spectrumgames via emulators and pathway to glory. Ive enjoyed it thorughly!
    Edited by 1 at 28/11/05 @ 09:01

  • #26 6 years ago

    What C64 / Speccy games did you play?

  • O.Z #27 6 years ago

    Yes, it was a piece of crap.

    No surprises here...

  • kaosridder #28 6 years ago

    Mo - among others the sentinel. Also tried out azure bonds but it crashed on me (damn it). Spectrum games : ao head over heels. really awesome classic game!