N-Gage services shutting down in late 2010
Nokia’s N-Gage services will soon go the way of the dodo. According to a report on VG247, pointing to an Oct. 30 post from the N-Gage Blog, the community services and ability to purchase games for the ill-conceived mobile gaming device from Nokia will no longer exist. In other words, Nokia is trying to move on and focus on a new store for mobile games and applications related to its other mobile phone devices. I’d like to say the N-Gage had a good run, but I’d be lying.
So now the focus will be on the Ovi Store, which Nokia says supports 100 of its mobile devices right now and offers a variety of games like Sky Force Reload, EA SPORTS FIFA 10, Pac-Man, The Sims 3 and Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile.. Nokia wants the new store to be a “one-stop shop for all your mobile content” - unless you own an N-Gage; the Ovi Store is available in more than 180 countries. And remember, content is for everyone so start downloading today.
While this is bad news for N-Gage users, Nokia will support the device until Sept. 2010. Users who can’t let go of their ill-planned purchase of the device will be able to purchase games until that time, but no new games will be published on the platform.
“..the N-Gage.com site together with the N-Gage Arena and other community features will remain in operation throughout 2010,” said a note on the blog, explaining just what will happen in 2010.
Nokia also noted that the N-Gage Arena will remain operational throughout 2010 so that players can continue to keep posting their high scores until then. The company also wants to assure N-Gage users that their game purchases are safe: all N-Gage games will continue to work on your N-Gage compatible mobile device but community features won’t work after 2010. N-Gage.com will close in Sept. 2010 as well.
Finally, here’s the answer to the toughest question of all to answer: “Why doesn’t Nokia keep N-Gage as a separate gaming platform?”
As mobile gaming evolves and begins to encompass social gaming, we want to offer one store front with an even broader portfolio of games – games for everyone. It’s much more convenient to have one place to get all your mobile games, and this it what Ovi Store provides. Mobile gaming is one of the most popular activities in the Ovi Store, with games being the #2 most downloaded category for premium content. And besides having all mobile games in one place, people can access other services like Mail, Maps, Music and many more via www.ovi.com.
While we can certainly understand why Nokia might be excited about this new store, it should probably be a little more stark and honest in its answer as to why it is really shutting N-Gage down in the last part of 2010: the game system was, by most accounts, a failure for the company.
