Nokia lets N-Gage to rest

It was to happen sooner or later. Actually we expected this to happen at least 6 months back. However, having said that, we would like to add that it is better late than never. Nokia has at last announced that it will no longer develop newer versions of the N-Gage gaming phone.

n gage

The company says it plans to hold off on mobile gaming for a couple of years, concentrating instead on mobile music and video. Antti Vasara, Nokia's vice president for corporate strategy said; "N-Gage is still being sold but it was not a success in the sense of developing a new category. We learnt that people want to play games on all devices. As such we are integrating the gaming software into Series 60 phones."

The N-Gage was released in October 2003 after a campaign blitzkrieg and hype. Nokia campaigned uncompromisingly in the media with "in-your-face" advertising featuring "extreme" skateboarding types. It even stooped to viral marketing to try and create a good air about it. In the process many gamers were insulted by the campaign especially when Nokia spokespeople made statements about how Game Boys weren't "cool" to anyone over a certain age. It generated very negative response.

The product itself was weird in many senses. It looked weird, and if you wanted to use it as a phone, you needed to hold it sideways that became a subject of Internet joke (Side Talkin) . Then you needed to take out the battery and refitted it every time you changed games.

The N-Gage QD, was released in 2004, fixing the battery and side-talking design flaws, and oddities. But sales still failed to live up to Nokia's expectations and the company sold just 2 million N-Gages (both original and QD) in three years, compared to predictions of six million. Notwithstanding this, Nokia plans to still produce limited quantities of the product for the Chinese and Indian markets.

Via - ars technical