Eidos to make wireless games

Eidos has announced a deal with Nokia to make five games for WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) enabled mobile phones in the next two years. Wireless Application Protocol is a wireless Internet format that is currently used primarily in Europe. The games will be based on both new and existing franchises, and they will be offered to consumers through wireless operators. The first game, Gangsters, will be released in the first half of 2001.

According to Nokia, mobile online entertainment has huge business potential for game publishers. The company notes that Datamonitor recently estimated that four out of five mobile phone users will play mobile games by 2005, and those figures represent a multibillion dollar business.

This announcement is the latest news in the growing wireless online game industry. Last October, Sprint PCS announced the launch of the first wireless multiplayer online fighting game, Gladiator, which later went on to generate more than 3 million minutes of airtime in the three months following its release. This figure placed it among the most successful applications on the mobile Internet.

Have you ever played a game on a mobile phone? Do you agree with the estimate that four out of five mobile phone users will play online games by 2005? Share your thoughts in Talkback below.