Farewell N-Gage - Nokia to shutter gaming service
In a low key announcement, via the N-Gage blog, comes the news that Nokia plans to shutter its N-Gage gaming service. Nokia say they will 'no longer publish new games for the N-Gage platform'; instead games will be provided via its Ovi Store service. Current N-Gage games can be purchased until September 2010 and the N-Gage website and Arena service (online elements) will be available throughout 2010.
The closure of the N-Gage service is a blow to Nokia's service ambitions. However it is also fair to say that N-Gage really pre-dated the Ovi strategy. As a result, in both vision and execution, it did not fit fully fit into the Ovi service portfolio, especially after the launch of Ovi Store earlier this year.
Clearly Nokia will look to push its gaming strategy forward under the Ovi Store umbrella, but it is a long way from both dedicated gaming unit (N-Gage first generation) and a gaming focused platform and community (N-Gage second generation). N-Gage was never able to move beyond a niche community. Its ease of distribution advantages has been overtaken by the rise of App Stores; similarly online service elements are now relatively common. Furthermore the lack of graphic acceleration hardware in recent Nokia S60 phones have left N-Gage games looking lacklustre, in eye-candy terms, when compared to the iPhone and other mobile gaming platforms.
Key points
- Nokia will no longer publish new games via the N-Gage service. Instead games will be made available via the Ovi Store. Nokia term this an 'evolution of their mobile gaming service', but there's no getting away from the fact that represents a failure of the N-Gage service.
- N-Gage games can be purchased until September 2010. Other parts of the N-Gage service, including N-Gage Arena, will be availale throughout 2010.
- The N-Gage application will continue to ship on some older devices. However new devices will not ship with the N-Gage application.
- All current N-Gage will continue to work. The online (Arena) elements will continue to work throughout 2010. However, subsequently, the online elements of N-Gage games will no longer work.
- Nokia's future gaming strategy will be based on Ovi Store distribution.
Nokia are 'actively working on offering more community elements through Ovi' and will 'encourage developers to use community features in their applications'. This suggests Nokia will, in the future, offer common community / online elements, perhaps based on N-Gage technology, to developers publishing their games through the Ovi Store.
More details and comment shortly.
Further information, including a list of frequently asked questions, is available on the N-Gage blog.
Published by Rafe Blandford at 17:46 UTC, October 30th
Categories: Software, Links of Interest, Industry, Editorial Thoughts, Games
Platforms: S60 3rd Edition, N-Gage, S60 5th Edition
News Discussion
adi_pie
Comment: Oh well, it was fun while it lasted... Well, not really if Nokia had taken better care of the N-gage service, or even given it some attention, because for the last year or so it seemed like they didn't even care it existed anymore, maybe it wouldn't have failed so badly.
Though it did have some good games that couldn't save it from Nokia's negligence, wait this sounds familiar... didn't the first N-gage go out in a similar fashion? (hardware and design not withstanding).
Though it did have some good games that couldn't save it from Nokia's negligence, wait this sounds familiar... didn't the first N-gage go out in a similar fashion? (hardware and design not withstanding).
sjhong
Comment: Nobody should feel surprised about this. The moment I've heard about the Ovi Store, I knew N-Gage was over.
Unregistered
Comment: I canned it years ago. Seemed to be a pointless overhead.
Now if you want a game you can still have a game, it just has to be a normal application loaded like any other.
Now if you want a game you can still have a game, it just has to be a normal application loaded like any other.
morpheus2702
Comment: It was pretty self evident from the amount of market surveys taking place around N-Gage and the negative phrasing of the research questions that the writing on the wall over a year ago.
Let's hope the Ovi store fares better.
Let's hope the Ovi store fares better.
Unregistered
Comment: Comes With Music next? This whole services thing is not as easy as it looks.
Hih
Comment: Yay! Faulty phones/games/services are useless. :D
Unregistered
Comment: Nokia is just one embarrassment after another these days. They are a joke, am glad I moved onto bigger and better things.
Unregistered
Comment: [quote=Unregistered;444730]Nokia is just one embarrassment after another these days. They are a joke, am glad I moved onto bigger and better things.[/quote]
Reading and posting in Symbian discussions is an interesting variation on having "moved on".
Reading and posting in Symbian discussions is an interesting variation on having "moved on".
xerxes
Comment: Does anyone else get the impression that Nokia doesn't know what it's doing any more?
Jouten
Comment: As much as I love my Nokia 5730XM, which was kind of built for this N-Gage platform; I can't help but feel Nokia is slipping up big time. It just might very well be time for me to move on to another OS and phone company...
architengi
Comment: This a really bad bad move for Nokia. Its shares already dropped today when the announcement was made with 3%.
But it is more than that. It is normal from all the phone users the N-Gage to be a niche, because put it simply smartphone is a niche in Nokia phones.
And N-Series is a niche in smartphones (considering all E-Series, Xpress Music and X-Series, N-Series, and number series running s60 OS) so there was no problem N-Gage was a niche in Nokia...
The bad move is when a company closes something with no replacemnt on the same level.
This happens with N-Gage closing – the N-Gage platform had a community behing with FRIENDS, network gaming, reviews, discussions and much more, and this can be only patially replaced by Ovi gaming, some features will never be replaced.
So then, Nokia did a very bad move because maybe that “niche” of users were core funs of the N-Series. And Nokia lost that 5% or 10% or 20% of users which will be certanly attracted by the many gaming titles on other platforms.
Why would any company close something with no replacement at the same level?
In my opinion, Nokia should have announced that they rename N-Gage as “OVI-Gaming” or “OVI N-Gage Games”, keep the platform and completely integrate it in OVI with keeping the accounts, the people inbox, messages, reviews. Of course, that means Nokia had to do the integration of N-Gage in OVI, but they did not want that, they took the sort way and said bye-bye.
I would not be surprised if Nokia will also CUT ANY OTHER SERVICE in the future, CUT Share on OVI, cut OVI MAIL, CUT even OVI MAPS, cut Ovi Music, etc because of the same reasons: they were niche…
N-Gage was a service loved by many gamers, they had friends on the N-Gage platform, partners to play with and Nokia instead of keeping the accounts and merge them into OVI, they simply delete this.
BAD MOVE Nokia.
Does Nokia really hate its customers? Does Nokia really care about us?
But it is more than that. It is normal from all the phone users the N-Gage to be a niche, because put it simply smartphone is a niche in Nokia phones.
And N-Series is a niche in smartphones (considering all E-Series, Xpress Music and X-Series, N-Series, and number series running s60 OS) so there was no problem N-Gage was a niche in Nokia...
The bad move is when a company closes something with no replacemnt on the same level.
This happens with N-Gage closing – the N-Gage platform had a community behing with FRIENDS, network gaming, reviews, discussions and much more, and this can be only patially replaced by Ovi gaming, some features will never be replaced.
So then, Nokia did a very bad move because maybe that “niche” of users were core funs of the N-Series. And Nokia lost that 5% or 10% or 20% of users which will be certanly attracted by the many gaming titles on other platforms.
Why would any company close something with no replacement at the same level?
In my opinion, Nokia should have announced that they rename N-Gage as “OVI-Gaming” or “OVI N-Gage Games”, keep the platform and completely integrate it in OVI with keeping the accounts, the people inbox, messages, reviews. Of course, that means Nokia had to do the integration of N-Gage in OVI, but they did not want that, they took the sort way and said bye-bye.
I would not be surprised if Nokia will also CUT ANY OTHER SERVICE in the future, CUT Share on OVI, cut OVI MAIL, CUT even OVI MAPS, cut Ovi Music, etc because of the same reasons: they were niche…
N-Gage was a service loved by many gamers, they had friends on the N-Gage platform, partners to play with and Nokia instead of keeping the accounts and merge them into OVI, they simply delete this.
BAD MOVE Nokia.
Does Nokia really hate its customers? Does Nokia really care about us?
snoFlake
Comment: Luckily OVI = Quality
rohitpsk
Comment: i am in india and have just bought a nokia n85 some 3 months back.
the main reason was the ngage platform.....
now the ngage going to get closed..,....
i believe i should i get full refund for the money spent on buying the mobile.....
what are the odds nokia is going to refund me!!!??:icon13::icon13::icon13::icon13:
the main reason was the ngage platform.....
now the ngage going to get closed..,....
i believe i should i get full refund for the money spent on buying the mobile.....
what are the odds nokia is going to refund me!!!??:icon13::icon13::icon13::icon13:
Unregistered
Comment: Bye N-Gage.. hope Symbian Foundation will Release universal gaming platform on Symbian Open Source.
RollerSMB
Comment: Really, the writing was on the wall from the time OVI branding came into force. This isn't the end of gaming on Nokia phones, far from it, so those that bought the phone for N-Gage needn't feel neglected. If anything, this just means games will be sourced from ovi store. I can see the point about the lack of community features, but really, most games just didn't take advantage of the network anyway. What would be neat is if Nokia can move to 'Ovi Gaming', and have the ngage leaderboards etc moved there, and have the ability to see online ovi friends and setup games with them, etc, much like the playstation network, or xbox live. Will it happen? Probably not until another phone o/s does it, and Nokia feel the need to play catch up :P
Unregistered
Comment: Poor N-Gage. As far as I'm concerned, the one that needs to be shut down are the bunch of idiots who have been making all the decisions for Nokia for the past couple of years.
Unregistered
Comment: nGage = Fail
Comes With Music = Fail
Appstore = Fail
Ovi = Fail
Maps / Ovi Maps = OK
Perhaps Nokia just doesn't have a clue about building services... They certainly won't be able to compete with Google!
Even tiny companies who invented Spotify out do the mega fail "comes with music".
Comes With Music = Fail
Appstore = Fail
Ovi = Fail
Maps / Ovi Maps = OK
Perhaps Nokia just doesn't have a clue about building services... They certainly won't be able to compete with Google!
Even tiny companies who invented Spotify out do the mega fail "comes with music".
tsunam
Comment: wasn't this site stating every time that there was no need of 3d hardware acc??? and now you blame the failure was because of the lack of 3d hardware lol?? lol i've been quite some time telling does blind idiots on the n-gage forums, maybe now they realise that ngage was a shit platform. i used to tell them that n-gage was was going to die and end soon if things were going to remain the same. but they used to say that it was the best platform bla bla bla. i just got feed up of talking to blind ppl on ngage forum. nokia killed ngage for the second time. lol i dont want to die using does crappy java games on that ovi s h i t store. im really angry cause i really loved ngage and i also had the classic ngage. and i must say that incompetent ppl working at nokia lead ngage this way. iphone here i come!!!
Unregistered
Comment: No hidden agenda, no plug for another phone or service - just an unhappy customer.
I'm on my 7th Nokia smartphone, which is the N97 - and it is more than likely going to be the last Nokia phone I ever own - purely on principle.
This NGage situation (and the way it has been run) just seems to be another example that Nokia really have lost the plot.
For some time, all they want to do is keep their customers in the dark, ship shoddy and incomplete devices, software and services, and pretend everything is okay.
If they have lost money / profits this year, then its a situation they need to get used to.
I'm currently on my 3rd N97 handset, and will soon be on my 4th - and have lost all faith in Nokia, which is an achievement for them, as I was the 'typical' Nokia fanboy.
End of Ngage ? - more like another nail in the coffin for Nokia . . . . . . .
I'm on my 7th Nokia smartphone, which is the N97 - and it is more than likely going to be the last Nokia phone I ever own - purely on principle.
This NGage situation (and the way it has been run) just seems to be another example that Nokia really have lost the plot.
For some time, all they want to do is keep their customers in the dark, ship shoddy and incomplete devices, software and services, and pretend everything is okay.
If they have lost money / profits this year, then its a situation they need to get used to.
I'm currently on my 3rd N97 handset, and will soon be on my 4th - and have lost all faith in Nokia, which is an achievement for them, as I was the 'typical' Nokia fanboy.
End of Ngage ? - more like another nail in the coffin for Nokia . . . . . . .
Raven
Comment: [quote=xerxes;444737]Does anyone else get the impression that Nokia doesn't know what it's doing any more?[/quote]
Oh, yes! For the past couple of years at least... Hopefully Maemo will change some things for the better, but I'm not overly optimistic...
Oh, yes! For the past couple of years at least... Hopefully Maemo will change some things for the better, but I'm not overly optimistic...
moonshot
Comment: Apart from texting and making and receiving phone calls. Mobile phones do everything else second or even third or forth best.
I would rather do pc stuff on a laptop, take photos with a camera, listen to music on an ipod and play games on a DSi.
Can't blame Nokia for trying though and the iphones bubble will burst in a couple of years as well.
I would rather do pc stuff on a laptop, take photos with a camera, listen to music on an ipod and play games on a DSi.
Can't blame Nokia for trying though and the iphones bubble will burst in a couple of years as well.
Hih
Comment: [quote=xerxes;444737]Does anyone else get the impression that Nokia doesn't know what it's doing any more?[/quote]
I have the same feeling. They don't know what they are doing.
N-Gage = fail
N97 = epic fail
OVI = no focus
Customer support = n/a
Biased reviews and news here (AAS). I used to love this site, but lately this site has become voice of Nokia. That's why my comments are so negative and cynical.
I have the same feeling. They don't know what they are doing.
N-Gage = fail
N97 = epic fail
OVI = no focus
Customer support = n/a
Biased reviews and news here (AAS). I used to love this site, but lately this site has become voice of Nokia. That's why my comments are so negative and cynical.
Kazutoyo
Comment: How very annoying. I had the original N-Gage and enjoyed games on that one. But I didn't buy a phone that was compatible with the N-Gage platform until 3 weeks ago, when I got myself a black E52, and instantly installed and bought a few games for it. And now it's to be killed.
I think the N-Gage generation had three noticeable flaws to it.
1) It took too damn long for them to release it, they started to talk about releasing N-Gage to multiple S60 devices back in 2005, but we didn't see it until 2008.
2) Due the fact it took them so long, the initial N-Gage compatible devices, turned out to not be compatible with N-Gage at all, like the N73 and N93.
3) And most importantly, the poor selection of games. Besides the Dirk Dagger games, there aren't really anything that offer much of a story and at the same time the DD games offer a very poor replayability. The original N-Gage had some great RPGs like Rifts: Promise of Power and Shadowkey, but none of that on the N-Gage platform. Same with excellent turnbased games like Pathway to Glory and Civilization but none of that here either. And the kind of game I want to play the most, are RPGs. Instead we mostly got lightweight casual games, which isn't really that different from the java games available.
I think the N-Gage generation had three noticeable flaws to it.
1) It took too damn long for them to release it, they started to talk about releasing N-Gage to multiple S60 devices back in 2005, but we didn't see it until 2008.
2) Due the fact it took them so long, the initial N-Gage compatible devices, turned out to not be compatible with N-Gage at all, like the N73 and N93.
3) And most importantly, the poor selection of games. Besides the Dirk Dagger games, there aren't really anything that offer much of a story and at the same time the DD games offer a very poor replayability. The original N-Gage had some great RPGs like Rifts: Promise of Power and Shadowkey, but none of that on the N-Gage platform. Same with excellent turnbased games like Pathway to Glory and Civilization but none of that here either. And the kind of game I want to play the most, are RPGs. Instead we mostly got lightweight casual games, which isn't really that different from the java games available.
Unregistered
Comment: I know of not one single person who bought a phone because it came with a silly virtual platform for playing games.
With N-Gage you could run a game on your phone, but you had to jump through stupid N-Gage hoops to start it.
Without N-Gage you can start the game from an icon just like any other app. What is the point of N-Gage?
Getting rid of a silly overhead is a very sensible thing. The 9 people in the world who believe they want N-Gage aren't going to be a problem.
They can look somewhere else for a phone that wraps its games in a silly virtual system. They won't find one.
With N-Gage you could run a game on your phone, but you had to jump through stupid N-Gage hoops to start it.
Without N-Gage you can start the game from an icon just like any other app. What is the point of N-Gage?
Getting rid of a silly overhead is a very sensible thing. The 9 people in the world who believe they want N-Gage aren't going to be a problem.
They can look somewhere else for a phone that wraps its games in a silly virtual system. They won't find one.
Serious 60``
Comment: It's too bad that Nokia has basically lost any confidence in its own decisions.
I remember when Nokia refused to get into the clamshell business because they thought it was a fad...and though nokia did eventually give in due to falling sales to clamshell, they were bang on.
I feel like Nokia really understood what made a good mobile, but no one seems to have an idea of what the hell their service strategy is.
They have closed a huge number of services and provided analogues in the form of OVI. This consolidation would usually be ok, but I don't think Nokia/OVi has nearly enough of strong brand to carry it off.
Remember that this was the 2nd time around for the n-gage brand. What a disaster - If I was in the gaming industry, i'd never invest in a Nokia platfnrom
I remember when Nokia refused to get into the clamshell business because they thought it was a fad...and though nokia did eventually give in due to falling sales to clamshell, they were bang on.
I feel like Nokia really understood what made a good mobile, but no one seems to have an idea of what the hell their service strategy is.
They have closed a huge number of services and provided analogues in the form of OVI. This consolidation would usually be ok, but I don't think Nokia/OVi has nearly enough of strong brand to carry it off.
Remember that this was the 2nd time around for the n-gage brand. What a disaster - If I was in the gaming industry, i'd never invest in a Nokia platfnrom
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