Sony to step up pursuit of mobile gaming in wake of Pokémon Go

Huge potential?: A version of Toro's Friend Network could work well on mobile, if not too similar to Nintendo's Miitomo.

Sony CEO Kaz Hirai has emphasised his company's newfound commitment to mobile gaming apps rather than just gaming devices, citing Pokémon Go as "a real game changer."

Mid-year mobile hit Pokémon Go wasn't published by Sony – traditional console company Nintendo has a stake in The Pokémon Company, while Google spin-off Niantic is the app's official publisher and developer – but the PlayStation multinational is clear on its own goals in a post –"PoGo" world.

Hirai, president of Sony's PlayStation division before becoming the corporation's number one, was at IFA 2016 in Berlin and told the Financial Times that his company was "aggressively getting into" mobile gaming; Sony has gone from "being just a console-based business to being on mobile phones as well," he said.

It's certainly true Sony has been more well known for its phone hardware than for individual, successful apps. A 2011 Xperia Play handset slid open to reveal a directional control pad and buttons styled after a PlayStation console controller, but the phone found it difficult to gain traction; more impressively, but more expensively, 2014's flagship Xperia Z3 could stream games from a PlayStation 4.

A portfolio of possibilities?

Here, though, Sony can say it knows a thing or two about the art and science of making games themselves, with franchises like LittleBigPlanet, Uncharted, Ratchet & Clank or Japanese mascot Toro Inoue holding mobile conversion potential.

In fact, Sony has already laid the foundation for a new mobile adventure, closing its PlayStation Mobile initiative in 2014, and creating dedicated app studio ForwardWorks in 2015, with the specific intention of bringing PlayStation franchises to iOS and Android, regardless of manufacturer.

In other words, it's looking to make a success out of an area that has previously eluded it – especially now that Pokémon Go has shown just what sort of success is up for grabs, and after Nintendo's market value picked up in the immediate aftermath.

Both PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox division are committing to swifter console upgrades, taking a leaf from the mobile world's playbook: PlayStation is expected to unveil a more powerful PS4, codenamed Neo, on September 7, while Xbox has promised an Xbox One Scorpio for 2017. —  AFP Relaxnews