Sony's chief executive Kaz Hirai is getting serious about the future of PlayStation games as it enter the mobile-gaming world, after it suggest an "aggressive" push in line with the inevitable success accepted by its console rival Nintendo's AR-oriented "Pokemon Go" app.
"It's quite a shift from being just a console-based business to being on mobile phones as well," Hirai told the Financial Times at the IFA consumer electronics expo in Berlin. Currently, Sony is working within its own brand PlayStation console, but plans to revive PlayStation Mobile, according to reports.
Augmented Reality, the feature that allows Pokémon Go to superimpose animated characters into a smartphone screen showing the real world, is a "great innovative idea that's going to lift all boats for the video game industry," Sony CEO added, suggesting that he would like to being the touch of AR capabilities into the company's games.
Hirai also suggested plans to tackle the problem from the ground up. "Mobile gaming is a very important part of the Japanese market and therefore we've created a wholly-owned subsidiary that's completely dedicated to mobile gaming. They'll be coming out with titles," he said.
Since July, Pokemon Go reaped $440 million after it landed on the mobile platform, which in turn gave Sony the idea of replicating the process. Setting the mark of mobile gaming for Sony is its mobile developer ForwardWorks Corporation, which was announced last March, as the studio dedicated to making apps for mobile devices based on PlayStation games and characters, Polygon reported.
Now, Hirai is seeing the future of AR as ForwardWorks' new initiative in hopes of mimicking the popularity of "Pokémon GO," which integrated GPS and smartphone camera technology to develop traditional Pokémon gameplay into the real world.
Hirai added that the innovative idea "is a real game-changer," and he is interested in tackling its potential to really change the way people interact and bring the game to life.
Soon, the AR functionality is expected to make its way into Sony's new mobile frontier. The coming games will leverage Sony's existing gaming IPs, and will focus for now on Asian markets.
So far, the mobile studio has yet to announce anything more specific, but recent data shows that there is a bit decline in the number of Pokémon Go players, which could prompt tech companies to participate in the show.