Sony To Release PlayStation Titles As Mobile Games, Reaction To Pokémon Go

It seems everything is moving to mobile these days, with companies like Nintendo and Ubisoft focusing more of their efforts on mobile platforms than before. This is no surprise, considering the unprecedented success that the Pokémon Go game app has achieved. Sony is the most recent to join this trend, announcing that it will be releasing 10 games for both Android and iOS devices in April 2017.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, the executive director of the company’s mobile division Tomoki Kawaguchi said that they are currently working on the 10 games that will be released on mobile devices, Fortune reports. The games will be released in Japan first, likely to test out a few bugs, but will be made available to all Android and iOS users worldwide soon after. Some of the titles in the works include PaRappa the Rapper and Arc The Lad.

This announcement is being taken as a reaction to the plans by Nintendo to release its upcoming mobile gaming app featuring Super Mario. The app is already highly anticipated, with footage of gameplay getting fans hyped for its released next week.

Although Sony has been doing very well with its gaming console sales as well as the revenue from the exclusive titles that it released, the maker of the PlayStation is struggling with the mobile audience. This is particularly troubling for the company since the mobile industry is growing at a rapid rate, especially in Japan. In a market that’s worth $12.4 billion, Japanese users make up for about half of that amount.

The matter of dominating the mobile gaming marketing is also incredibly important for Sony’s bottom line, Reuters reports, with its gaming segment being its biggest source of revenue. With the console market shrinking and no prospect of actually having stakes in the growing PC industry, its only choice is the mobile segment.