Games
N-Gage to die, partly thanks to iPhone
By Peter CohenOctober 30, 2009, 11:29 am PT
Cell phone maker Nokia announced Friday plans to discontinue its N-Gage, a cell phone and handheld gaming console. N-Gage services will no longer be available on new Nokia cell phones, and the online N-Gage Store itself will close in one year.
The N-Gage first debuted in 2003, but an awkward design that looked more like a taco than a cell phone and limited software selection led to tepid response from consumers. Nokia tried to refine the design with the N-Gage QD, and in 2007, Nokia rebranded N-Gage as a mobile gaming service whose functionality would be built into new, emerging cell phones.
Intent on creating opportunity from adversity, Nokia points to its Ovi Store (“Ovi” means “door” in Finnish, Nokia’s native language) as an alternative for Nokia phone owners interested in buying games. Since its debut in May, 2009, the Ovi Store has been positioned as Nokia’s answer to the App Store, where Nokia phone owners can purchase and download applications for their devices, including games. Like Apple, Nokia takes 30 percent off the top of any apps sold from the Ovi Store.
There can be little doubt that N-Gage’s demise was spurred by the continued success of the iPhone as a gaming platform. Tens of thousands of games are available for purchase and download from the App Store, including many developed and published by major game makers like Electronic Arts. Games comprise the single biggest segment of applications available for download for the iPhone.
Nokia said that users of N-Gage equipped phones will be able to share high scores until the N-Gage store shuts down in September, 2010. Games will continue to work after that, though social networking features supported by N-Gage games will be non-functional once the store shuts down.
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N-Gage to die, partly thanks to iPhone
By Peter CohenOctober 30, 2009, 11:29 am PT
Cell phone maker Nokia announced Friday plans to discontinue its N-Gage, a cell phone and handheld gaming console. N-Gage services will no longer be available on new Nokia cell phones, and the online N-Gage Store itself will close in one year.
The N-Gage first debuted in 2003, but an awkward design that looked more like a taco than a cell phone and limited software selection led to tepid response from consumers. Nokia tried to refine the design with the N-Gage QD, and in 2007, Nokia rebranded N-Gage as a mobile gaming service whose functionality would be built into new, emerging cell phones.
Intent on creating opportunity from adversity, Nokia points to its Ovi Store (“Ovi” means “door” in Finnish, Nokia’s native language) as an alternative for Nokia phone owners interested in buying games. Since its debut in May, 2009, the Ovi Store has been positioned as Nokia’s answer to the App Store, where Nokia phone owners can purchase and download applications for their devices, including games. Like Apple, Nokia takes 30 percent off the top of any apps sold from the Ovi Store.
There can be little doubt that N-Gage’s demise was spurred by the continued success of the iPhone as a gaming platform. Tens of thousands of games are available for purchase and download from the App Store, including many developed and published by major game makers like Electronic Arts. Games comprise the single biggest segment of applications available for download for the iPhone.
Nokia said that users of N-Gage equipped phones will be able to share high scores until the N-Gage store shuts down in September, 2010. Games will continue to work after that, though social networking features supported by N-Gage games will be non-functional once the store shuts down.
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5 Responses to “N-Gage to die, partly thanks to iPhone”
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Peter seriously? The N-Gage failed due to bad design and a pure misunderstanding of what game players want – and all of this happened years before the iPhone was even announced.
Bill
The N-Gage *hardware* died a couple of years ago. The *service* is dying because Nokia can’t keep up with the App Store.
That thing is hideous. The total opposite of an Apple product (i.e. minimalist simplicity).
N-Gage was bad when it debuted.
It is bad now.
And it is bad long after it has died.
Nothing has changed.
The idea behind the N-Gage wasn’t bad, it was the implementation. The first N-Gage was an awkward design that didn’t take into account simple ergonomics (side talking, removing the battery to put in another game). The second model, the QD, was a vastly superior design, but it was a little too late to repair its tarnished reputation. The launch title line-up was not great, either. You’ve got to have a ‘killer app’ right away to get people interested, and most of what they had were ported Playstation 1 games and simple puzzle games. It almost instantly became a punch line before the QD could be released to fix the situation and the good software could hit store shelves. And another problem was that the target audience for the N-Gage were the same kinds of young people who wouldn’t think twice about pirating games, and all the games came on MMC cards which made them especially easy to crack. Like I said, there were good ideas behind the device, but they stumbled too many times for the general public to take them seriously. Then Nokia decided to fold in the N-Gage concept into most of their other phones, but the name was tarnished from the get-go.