Sony to release up to six mobile games in 2017

After a fair bit of talk about getting into mobile games this year, Sony has finally announced that the company is working on a total of 10 mobile gaming titles, six of which are expected to be released in 2017. The 10 titles are to be based on classic Sony IP and look set to include PaRappa the Rapper and Arc The Lad.

Sony’s mobile games will initially be released in Japan and will then be followed up be dates in other Asian countries. It’s not clear if Sony intends to bring any of these games to the West in an attempt to capitalize on the success of games like Pokemon Go. There’s some extra digging required to find all of the upcoming titles, as Sony didn’t announcement all of them officially at the event, but the company’s ForwardWorks studio has announced a list that contains most of them. Unfortunately most of the release dates are still to be determined, but here’s the list of 10:

• Mingol
• Hot Shots Golf
• No Heroes Allowed! DASH!
• Arc The Lad Wild Arms
• Doko Demo Issho
• PaRappa the Rapper
• Boku no Natsuyasumi
• Disgaea
• Yomawari
• Sora to Umi no Aida

These upcoming titles look set to be released by the company’s ForwardWorks development studio. Sony setup ForwardWorks in Toyko back at the end of March and the studio will be working exclusively on mobile titles mostly using PlayStation IP. Square Enix is also going to work in collaboration with ForwardWorks on a title that will be announced at a later date.

Sony’s move into mobile games should help relieve some of the pressure that it’s facing from this growing gaming segment, which is particularly big business in the company’s home country of Japan. In Japan, mobile gaming now accounts for more than half of the $12.4 billion market, according to research firm Newzoo.