Tag: sony

Sony is beginning to take mobile gaming more seriously

Sony is taking another step into the mobile games space with the formation of ForwardWorks, a first-party development studio focused on the mobile space. The new developer will work exclusively on creating games for mobile consumption. ForwardWorks will be based in Tokyo, Japan, which has become one of the largest and most lucrative markets in mobile gaming, and will be a wholly-owned Sony subsidiary. Backed by Sony, ForwardWorks may develop games that are based on franchises that exist in Sony’s portfolio.

Consumers want developers to move away from dubious microtransaction model

What games ForwardWorks will be developing specifically is not yet known. Some consumers have expressed hope that the developer will shy away from conventional business practices in the mobile gaming space, such as microtransactions. In-game purchases are quite popular among gamers, but they still take issue with the fact that they can play a game for free but have to pay for additional content. Consumers have taken issue with microtransactions because they effectively gate content, preventing people from playing supposedly free games without spending money. Microtransactions also provide some players with in-game advantages over others, which many people consider to be unfair.

Mobile gaming market continues to expand, reaching $25 billion in revenue last year

The mobile gaming space is growing quickly. The mobile space is now the largest gaming segment overall, having generating $25 billion in revenue in 2015. This has made the mobile space very attractive to companies like Sony, who have a longstanding position within the game industry. These companies had traditionally focused on traditional gaming, either through game consoles or computers, but the advent of mobile technology has forced these developers to shift their focus.

Sony to continue focusing on console and PC games, but will support the mobile space

Sony will not abandon the traditional gaming space, but will be showing more support for mobile games in the future. ForwardWorks will face strong competition from various other developers that have already established a foothold in the mobile space, but the developer may find success by leveraging the power of Sony’s existing intellectual properties.

The company is hoping to help to overcome a battery life struggle that is holding back the mobile industry.

As smartphone manufacturers increasingly show that they are unwilling to produce thicker devices in order to accommodate longer lasting smartphone batteries, Sony has taken on the task of developing a power source that will last about forty percent longer than the current average without requiring more space.

The majority of consumers are required to charge their smartphones every night to accommodate the next day’s use.

A new announcement has showed that Sony is coming up with considerably more energy efficient types of smartphone batteries using technology that should become available in the consumer market by 2020. This new tech uses magnesium and sulfur based electrodes in order to form a power source that will hold about 40 percent more power than Li-ion battery cells of the same physical size.

Researchers have been looking into smartphone batteries based on lithium-sulfur for some time now.

However, the problem that has been faced is in making a stable environment in which to contain the sulfur. Without accomplishing that goal, the sulfur breaks down very quickly and once it has degraded it will not perform as a component of the mobile device battery. That said, based on the latest reports from Sony, it looks as though that company may have been able to come up with a new way to maintain the stability of the sulfur and, therefore, make it usable in a practical way as a part of a more powerful battery.

That said, Sony has also reported that it is testing out a battery that combines sulphur and magnesium. It is believed that they are doing this because they want to overcome one of the struggles that are presented by using lithium, which is its own degradation over time, eventually turning the substance into a fire hazard. By using a rechargeable power source that does not contain lithium, it’s possible to boost the safety to consumers.

That said, after all the research Sony is doing into smartphone batteries with better performance, it could possibly be that nothing will result. However, when taking into consideration that it was Sony that came up with the Li-ion commercially viable battery in the first place, the company has shown that it knows what it is doing in that area.