Nokia to Shutter N-Gage Mobile Games Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 30, 2009 - 7:23am.

Helsinki - After failing to gain market traction, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) plans to shutter its N-Gage mobile gaming service next year, Reuters reported.

The company retooled the N-Gage brand from a line of gaming-focused handsets to a mobile gaming service, which launched last year.

The first edition N-Gage handset was derided for its design, asking users to hold it to their faces sideways, like a taco, when making calls.

Later models addressed some concerns, but the gaming phones did not sell well.

"We will no longer publish new games for the N-Gage platform," the company wrote on its N-Gage blog, adding that it will continue to maintain the N-Gage online community site through 2010.

Nokia plans to continue to publish games in its Ovi mobile applications store.

http://snipurl.com/sxscx (N-Gage blog)

http://www.n-gage.com