| Hoping that American early adopters will be as nuts about mobile gaming as
they are in Japan, Sega.com Inc. is launching a new mobile division aimed at
bringing Sega gaming to cellular phone and PDA users in North America.
Sega said that in Japan, the company already has more than 2.5 million
subscribers to wireless games and other entertainment related content. The
new San Francisco-based unit will be called simply Sega Mobile.
"It's no surprise that Sega is bringing their wireless expertise to the U.S.
market," Gartner G2 analyst P.J. McNealy told InternetNews.com."They have
been successful in Japan, and the U.S. market is getting more sophisticated
for wireless communications and entertainment. This announcement is also the
second one we've seen from a service provider in the past two months as
RealNetworks has also launched its wireless services initiative."
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RealNetworks recently
launched its new RealSystem Mobile platform.
Whether playing games using the little screens on mobile phones and PDAs will
catch on in America is anyone's guess. So far, Americans seem to have an
immunity to the SMS - Short Message Service - that has much of the rest of
the world crazy about sending out obscure text messages.
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pull, and Microsofts entry next year makes Sega somewhat of a small fish in a prior online gaming efforts such as Nintendos SNES and Segas Saturn failed,
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-107406.htmlHOME |
But there are plenty of teens out there who might be interested in games, and
that's a gamble that Ryoichi Shiratsuchi, CEO of Sega.com and general manager
of Sega Mobile Japan, is willing to take.
"Bringing great Sega content to wireless platforms is another step toward
Sega.com's goal of bringing networked gaming to all devices and thereby
extending the pastime to mainstream audiences across the world," he said.
Sega cited stats from analysis and consulting company Ovum estimating that the global revenue for
wireless gaming will reach $4.4 billion by 2006, up from $124 million in
2001.
Sega Mobile said it plans to launch classic titles such as Pengo, Flicky,
Puyo Puyo, and Monaco GP. Beginning this summer, Sega Mobile will bring the
established game console title Monkey Ball to wireless devices nationwide.
Wireless gaming apparently has some other companies seeing revenue
possibilities, too. Last July, four of the biggest wireless technology
players
joined forces to define a mobile games interoperability specification for
network-based servers.
And just this month AT&T Wireless began
touting a networked gaming feature in its new ad campaign for the mMode
service for wireless phone users.
Sega already has deals to develop games and game platforms for personal
digital assistants on the Palm and PocketPC systems. It also has a deal to
develop games for cell phones with Qualcomm.
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