Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. – which changed its company name to Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (SIE) effective April 1st – announced the formation of ForwardWorks Corporation (ForwardWorks), a new company that is aimed to deploy new services toward the ever-expanding smart device market.
ForwardWorks will leverage the intellectual property of the numerous PlayStation dedicated software titles and its gaming characters
With advances such as an increase in display size and other hardware specifications, several online gaming vendors are entering the mobile platform. Although the online gaming market is growing at a rate of 11.95%, increased adoption of smartphones and tablets has led to mobile devices generating the highest revenue in the gaming market. The mobile market is projected to grow a further 21.39% by 2020, and Sony is hoping its new app can attract users who are turning to their smartphones to play games. This comes a week after Nintendo unveiled its new mobile gaming app called Miitomo, which surged to the top of the download charts.
The emergence of mobile-integrated VR headsets is another key development in the growth of mobile gaming. These devices offer benefits such as portability, untethered aspect and ease of use. With the overall virtual reality in global gaming market expected to grow 25.97% over the next few years, Sony has announced plans to launch its PlayStation VR goggles in October. It faces competition from HTC and Oculus, but at $399, its headset will be considerably cheaper than its rivals.
ForwardWorks will leverage the intellectual property of the numerous PlayStation dedicated software titles and its gaming characters as well as 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 including smartphones to users in Japan and Asia. The company eyes to deliver full-fledged game titles in the new filed of the smart device market.
