Sega Mobile launches in US
But what about Europe?
Sega.com Inc. has announced the launch of a new division, Sega Mobile, dedicated to bringing Sega gaming to mobile phone and PDA users in North America. Based on the idea's success in Japan, where Sega Mobile has more than 2.5 million subscribers, the new division will give mobile and PDA owners the chance to play games from Sega's extensive back catalogue redesigned for their systems. The wireless gaming market, which analysts are predicting big things for in the next few years, is Sega Mobile's prime target. The propagation of standards like 3G, and the growing consistency in the diverse US mobile market means that Sega Mobile may be able to tap into the billions in revenue hidden in the blossoming wireless games market over the next four years. Amongst titles confirmed for Sega Mobile are Pengo, Flicky, Puyo Puyo and Monaco GP, not to mention Monkey Ball, a line-up which panders to the die-hard Sega fan and casual gamer alike. Since Sega is not a self-publishing company these days, the chances are that if this operation is to successfully move to Europe where, let's be honest, the mobile market sits between its chaotic US equivalent and the space-aged Japanese one, the company has to be talking to publishers about it right now. As such, it's not really Sega's decision as to whether we end up playing Monkey Ball on our phones and PDAs, and the company told us as much when we probed them for comment earlier today. One thing's certain though - a move to the States makes the chances of a European initiative a lot more realistic.