After a failed attempt not too long ago, Sony may be ready to step into the mobile arena once more.
Soon, Nintendo may not be the only big three console manufacturer on the block with mobile gaming aspirations as news watching website Nikkei is reporting that Sony will soon start development of their own iOS and Android games.
According to the report, Sony's PlayStation division will be spearheading the development of "five to six" mobile titles. The games themselves will be developed by the company's new ForwardWorks subsidiary which is described as a brand that will "leverage the intellectual property of the numerous PlayStation dedicated software titles and its gaming characters" in order to create "full-fledged gaming titles."
As it stands, the company's current goal is to release these initial games before March of 2018. Sony is planning on debuting the games in Japan followed by their release in other Asian countries, but they have not revealed when (or if) they will be releasing these same games in Western markets.
The wording of the ForwardWorks press release does seem to indicate that these games will be mobile adaptations of popular Sony franchises (similar to what Nintendo is currently doing with this mobile line), but it's quite possible that the studio will be developing original mobile properties as well given that their roster of high-profile exclusive characters and games is arguably not quite as deep as Nintendo's.
The Wall Street Journal also believes that games like The Last Guardian and Hot Shots Golf may be first up for adaptations. However, this information appears to be purely speculative.
This isn't the first time that Sony has indicated an interest in expanding into the mobile game development market. They originally planned on developing games that would work on both PS Vita and Android, but that project was shuttered quietly in 2015 due to a supposed change in internal interests.