TOKYO (Nikkei)--Microsoft Corp. will offer its games for Apple
Inc.'s iPhone and other competing smartphone platforms starting
this fiscal year through a partnership with a Japanese firm, the
Nikkei reported in its Tuesday morning edition.
The U.S. software giant has tied up with KLab Inc. , a midsize
developer of smartphone games. Under a licensing deal, KLab will
convert console and personal computer games from Microsoft so that
they run on the iPhone and smartphones using Google Inc.'s Android
operating system.
"Age of Empires," a popular game on Microsoft'sd Xbox console
and Windows-based PCs, will launch worldwide for smartphones by the
end of fiscal 2013. It will be free to play, with fees charged for
in-game services. A Japanese version will be available as well.
Other titles will be released gradually. Microsoft has a library of
hundreds of games developed in-house.
The move could mark a major turning point in the video game
industry, whose main business has been with consoles. The sector is
threatened by the explosion of smartphone games and the launch of
low-cost services taking advantage of cloud computing.
The global smartphone game market is projected to double from
the 2012 level to Y1.6 trillion in 2017. Meanwhile, sales of
consoles, including those from Sony Corp. (6758.TO) and Nintendo
Co. (7974.OK), dropped about 20% on the year in 2012.
Previously, Microsoft developed some simple games for
smartphones running its Windows Phone operating system. But Windows
Phone is used in only 3% of the world's handsets--a far cry from
the roughly 90% combined market share held by Apple and Google.
24-06-13 2335GMT
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