Nokia Will Close Its Battered Gaming Service N-Gage Next Year

Nokia will close its battered gaming service N-Gage next year, acknowledging failure in its first major services offering. Nokia is looking for new revenue from online services as its traditional handset market matures, with games and music being the first focus areas.

Yet the handset maker’s mobile gaming push has encountered major challenges, with consumers first shunning its dedicated gaming phones which went on sale in October 2003, accompanied by a mojor global advertising compaign.

The online gaming service, which opened last year, took over the N-Gage brand and also never moved beyond a niche audience of hard-core gameres.

Nokia’s leading position in the cellphone market had attracted all the top mobile game makers—including Electronic Arts, Gameloft, Glu Mobile and Digital Chocolate—to create special games for N-Gage.
After closing the N-Gage service, Nokia will continue to sell mobile games at its Ovi Store, a smaller rival to Apple’s popular App Store.
Nokia’s U.S. shares were 3.3 percent lower at $12.73 by 1750 GMT.

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