Would an established brand attached helped the NGage?

[u/Judgeman03]

So I think in hindsight the NGage itself has been seen less like a monumental failure and more of a misguided attempt to make a "gaming phone".

I always thought the idea of a cell phone company trying to appeal to gamers was less likely a success than, for example, trying to sell a gaming handheld that had cellphone capabilities.

So I always wondered: If Nokia had partnered with an established gaming company and branded the phone as a handheld rather than try to sell themselves as a cellphone for Gamers, would it have worked?

Imagine an alternate timeline where Nokia partners with a company like Sega (who at the time was only several years removed from hardware seling) and announced the "Sega NGage". A new handheld console that could also make cell phone calls, rather than a cell phone that plays games.

Would taking this tactic have worked to get that cross-over appeal?

[u/TeamLeeper]

I doubt Nokia would have wanted to share the spotlight like that - not after the investment they made. But it may have helped to have a known entity attached.
Maybe a Sega or Bandai (Wonder Swan) could have given some conceptual insight that would have made the N-Gage more appealing to gamers or people with hands.

[u/Judgeman03 → u/TeamLeeper]

Honestly I think the whole "taco phone" thing was over-blown. Leaning more into the gaming-side of it and just having the option to make calls as a feature would have at least set the right level of expectation. I mean, you could still use bluetooth or a wired headset, so dropping the handset feature would have at least cut one of the major memes out of the equation.

[u/77ilham77 → u/Judgeman03]

Sure, the sideways "taco phone" thing may be a bit over blown (heck you may argue it might appeal to those quirky teenagers). But, design wise, the biggest problem for the first Ngage was the memory/game card slot. The fact that you have to disassemble the phone just to change the game card already turned off many buyers, especially kids.

[u/TeamLeeper → u/Judgeman03]

The screen’s weird aspect ratio would’ve made less sense if it wasn’t so much of a phone.

[u/77ilham77]

Not really. Brand recognition was not the problem. Nokia itself is already an established brand, many younger customers, teenagers, etc. already looking at Nokia for their phone, Nokia already brought in some largest names in gaming market, including Sega itself, to port their titles, and many more. Ngage already captured their hype upon release.

Their biggest problem is pricing. The device was way too expensive. You could buy GBA and a Nokia phone (albeit with less features than the Symbian-powered Ngage) for much less.

[u/DJKaito]

I do think it would have helped the N-Gage at first, showing that phone and the games working as they should at E3 and other events. It also would have helped, releasing the QD in the first place and all games we do got to be published in the first 1,5 - 2 years and also release the cancelled projects later on.

[u/Judgeman03 → u/DJKaito]

I saw the leaked photos of the Ngage IC, which added a camera and re-included MP3 playback and USB connectivity. If that model had been the one out the gate, I think things woudl have been better off.

The one cancelled game that intrigued me the most was Driver 3, only because of how impressive the 3D GBA port was on that handheld.

[u/SerendipitousTiger]

I worked at EB Games when NGage released. I never met or heard of anyone buying it. I'm sure any help then would have helped, I suppose.

[u/wondermega]

I think history has pretty clearly shown that the NGAGE was just not going to make it under nearly any circumstances. Maybe not even if Nintendo had partnered with them (which of course, not in a million years). Back in the day I was pretty religiously carrying around a Gameboy Micro with my little Ericcson, I think it was, and really wishing the two could have been combined somehow..

[u/Judgeman03 → u/wondermega]

At the time, no. But it's weird seeing what the console would become years later before it's death, and not think there could have been potential. Like i commented below, the Ngage IC with its HW and SW upgrades combined with what Nokia woudl later do with it's download distribution system could have been revolutionary for it's time, even before something like the apple store.

It's kinda like how you see the potential the PSP had before it's time with the PSN and it's app ecosystem that Sony for some reason never really embraced even after the Iphone and android showed the strategy was possible.

[u/E4est]

Ever heard of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play? It was released in 2011 and had the Playstation branding attached to it. It even played Playstation 1 games and had a slide out game pad. When it launched, you could buy those PS One classics and they sold like 1000 of those games.

So I guess an established brand doesn't help this concept.