Rumor: Nokia N-nding N-gage production?

  • By thorsen-ink, GameSpot
  • Posted Nov 28, 2005 5:09 pm PT

Source: An article on tech-news site VNUnet. The official story: Nokia reps did not return requests for comment. What we heard: In 2003, the N-Gage launched with much fanfare--and even more derision. The original form factor of Nokia's hybrid game deck became a running joke for its clunky design,...

Source: An article on tech-news site VNUnet.

The official story: Nokia reps did not return requests for comment.

What we heard: In 2003, the N-Gage launched with much fanfare--and even more derision. The original form factor of Nokia's hybrid game deck became a running joke for its clunky design, laborious game-switching process, and laughable "side-talking" mobile-phone functionality. Not even the lightning-quick introduction of the redesigned N-Gage QD could reverse the platform's fortune. Instead of selling an anticipated 6 million in two years, Nokia has sold only 2 million N-Gages to date.

Given the N-Gage's unpopularity, industry watchers have been predicting its demise for months. However, as recently as May, Nokia claimed the platform was alive and well. But over the weekend, headlines such as "Nokia Dis-N-Gages" and "Nokia Shifts Focus from Gaming" helped fuel rumors that the end was finally nigh for the handheld/phone.

However, most of the stories that bore the headlines did not explicitly say that Nokia has ceased manufacturing the N-Gage. Almost all cited the VNUnet article, titled "Nokia Holds Fire on Mobile Gaming," which says that the Finnish phone giant "will not be building new versions of the N-Gage gaming phone." That statement could easily be interpreted as meaning manufacture of the handheld/phone has ceased. However, the article does say that "the company intends to continue producing N-Gage devices primarily for the Chinese and Indian markets." But given the dismal-sounding quotes in the VNUnet article from Nokia vice president for corporate strategy Antti Vasara, you shouldn't expect to see future N-Gage publicity campaigns...unless you live in Shanghai or Mumbai.

Bogus or not bogus?: Technically this is bogus for now, though the platform's days are almost definitely numbered.

93 Comments

  • Pittfan666

    Posted Oct 6, 2008 7:34 am PT

    The n-gage should've never been born in the first place.e

  • blind59

    Posted Oct 18, 2006 8:56 pm PT

    not bogus

  • KittyKatLaura12

    Posted Sep 16, 2006 5:41 pm PT

    "sickdrummer420
    well, its mainly a phone and not a gaming system everyone........u cant throw a psp in your pocket like you can an ngage........ive owned an ngage for a while now along with a psp.........hmmm , wonder why my psp is on ebay now? "

    You really gave up a PSP to keep a mediocre cell phone with mediocre games?

    Have you considered getting a DS?

  • strategyking92

    Posted Sep 2, 2006 8:33 am PT

    n gage= awesomeness

  • kboy95

    Posted Jul 20, 2006 2:10 pm PT

    all you guys are stupid no way the n-gage was crap i for one have one and it's awsome!!!!!!!!!!!! )

  • samekila

    Posted May 11, 2006 11:44 pm PT

    I wish I could find a N gage I have always wonted one I don't care how they graphics are or whut games its has I think it was a great idead for gaming phones everyone has a cell phone and I would love to have me DS have a phone on it gaming and phone's mix well it's really just the beginning I think NOKIA for raising the bar for mobile phones now maybe Microsoft will come hard with the ultimate mobile device

  • yellowhater

    Posted Apr 27, 2006 1:50 pm PT

    i wish they would still sell n gages because its like a phone and a game boy and thats good when im bored

  • guitardude619

    Posted Feb 18, 2006 5:43 pm PT

    nokia was expecting too much

  • Doctorfeelg00d

    Posted Jan 23, 2006 8:55 am PT

    Yeah!! Hit the road, you poor excuse for a gaming system!!

  • ps21990

    Posted Dec 15, 2005 6:38 am PT

    good news.

  • Aracno1D

    Posted Dec 11, 2005 8:12 am PT

    I think it is better to have a great handheld console with a cellular than having a N-gage, but I understand that some people love it.

  • marco888

    Posted Dec 10, 2005 11:55 am PT

    That was a good system i got one for my birthday. Plus i got the cellphone service through it. I hope they still sell games for the N-gage evgen though it might discontinue. I am happy this is a rumer I hope it doesn't sell out.

  • hardhittin12

    Posted Dec 9, 2005 9:16 pm PT

    Stop comparing it to a DS or PSP, ya can't make a phone call on a dang psp, N-gage is a freaking phone that plays games better then any other phone.

  • Zar_InHELL

    Posted Dec 9, 2005 4:39 am PT

    ok LISTEN N-GAGE QD ?isa phone that u can play All the old School games u were playing before , Hmmmm What's that ? yeah it's a Phone with a great BATTERY Life that hold over 100000 games or more ? and ur about to say what the hell am Sayin ? Dude N-gage QD can Play NES,SNES,MSX,MEgaDrive,Gameboy,gameboy color,Gameboy ADVANCED(soon),Amiga, And N-gage games. yes Something called Emulator , Zillion OF ROMS AND GAMES playable in Ngage, This is the best Device i Ever HAD in MY LIFEEEEEEE .... THANK YOU NOKIA FOR MAKING N-GAGE QD.
    Expand ur Mind PPL.

  • Zar_InHELL

    Posted Dec 9, 2005 4:39 am PT

    ok LISTEN N-GAGE QD ?isa phone that u can play All the old School games u were playing before , Hmmmm What's that ? yeah it's a Phone with a great BATTERY Life that hold over 100000 games or more ? and ur about to say what the hell am Sayin ? Dude N-gage QD can Play NES,SNES,MSX,MEgaDrive,Gameboy,gameboy color,Gameboy ADVANCED(soon),Amiga, And N-gage games. yes Something called Emulator , Zillion OF ROMS AND GAMES playable in Ngage, This is the best Device i Ever HAD in MY LIFEEEEEEE .... THANK YOU NOKIA FOR MAKING N-GAGE QD.
    Expand ur Mind PPL.

  • mogmckean

    Posted Dec 6, 2005 9:21 pm PT

    I've only played with my N-gage QD a few times but for what it is, it's actually pretty nice...and for those that say the N-gage is gay...what does "move in a circular motion and blow" make you think of? to me...not instructions for a DS game...they all have their quarks...

  • siberdib

    Posted Dec 6, 2005 3:08 pm PT

    Ive had a QD since launch, ive enjoyed some many of the original games released, inc PTG, MHP, Ashen, Glimmerati, High Seize etc.... I still play it even though I have a PSP and a DS, why you ask? The unit actually had some decent original games, something of a rareity these days.. al la psp with all its ports.
    This comming from a PSP owner.

  • Homsar13

    Posted Dec 5, 2005 8:53 pm PT

    its a good thing they are ending the N-Gayge espeicially with the online play in the PSP or the Wi-Fi play in the DS (ds is better!) to sum it all up, N-GAGE SUCKS!! sell your n-gage to a video game retailer

  • spiderJames

    Posted Dec 4, 2005 6:44 pm PT

    I dont kno, every one is saying that the DS and the PSP could own it, Im an owner of all three, and it appears that one has a cell phone, i think that makes up for wat u all are saying

  • SubSnakeater

    Posted Dec 4, 2005 6:11 am PT

    great.. now im collecting money to buy this phone.. and its already stop producing em'?... crap man.. cant own a psp! just want a gaming phone!!!~ this is crap man.. i hate this..

  • TLR_

    Posted Dec 4, 2005 4:14 am PT

    About time something like this was posted. Agreed, the N-Gage's days are numbered, but anyone claiming the N-Gage is a bad system simply does not know anything about it or has judged it after only a handful of short gaming sessions. There has not yet been a DS/PSP user that wasn't impressed after I, face-to-face, showed them the 2004-2005 releases.

    It's a shame the N-Gage is gonna die though, it's the only portable gaming device capable of connecting online without "the WiFi leash" and, to the people who DO understand it, it is the only device that is capable of challenging a desktop PC in capabilities.

    Yeah... it was doomed to be shot down though. Nokia charged $300 at launch and didn't tell anyone what the N-Gage was capable of, so many didn't know why $300 was a fair price and took the immediate opinion that they were being ripped off, considering "what they got"(or more realistically, what they THOUGHT they were getting).

    Bad planning, bad planning, bad planning... Nokia simply should have advertised all the N-Gage could do when they launched it and tried to charge less, even though $300 was very fair considering the capabilities.

  • CuLLiSk

    Posted Dec 2, 2005 9:39 pm PT

    I bought an original n-gage when they first came out, unfortunately I lost it a few months ago. Even though I looked around at other phones I didn't find one I liked as much so I bought another original n-gage off eBay (you can't buy them new any more, and I didn't want a QD cause they removed the mp3 player).

    The gaming side of things is pretty weak and doesn't compare with the psp, ds or even the gba. But for me, I don't want to carry 2 separate machines whenever I go somewhere. As a phone with 1Gb of mp3s+games, various apps (e.g. IRC + messenger programs), a cool interface and a radio it pwns.

    My 2 cents ^_^

  • FinalDoom1991

    Posted Dec 2, 2005 5:46 pm PT

    I think that it is a cool system since its a phone and a gaming device in one so you dont have to carry both around and also I think it had decent graphics.

    POCKET KINGDOM

  • timmotool

    Posted Dec 2, 2005 12:27 am PT

    Whats this"N-Gay" you speak of?

  • freddy4ever

    Posted Dec 1, 2005 11:15 pm PT

    n-gage should of never brought out the hand-held system it was full of mistakes so actually it really sucked the only thing i wanna say the n-gage sux big time..

  • KRoolsLastStand

    Posted Dec 1, 2005 7:48 pm PT

    I'm surprised it took this long for this.

  • craigbic

    Posted Nov 30, 2005 8:46 pm PT

    And this is bad news? Bye bye N-Gage!

  • teddaman

    Posted Nov 30, 2005 5:30 pm PT

    it makes a great doorstop.

  • Sabbage34

    Posted Nov 30, 2005 2:21 pm PT

    Hmm *Covers DS sceen* Now honey don't look at that thing that's what we call a shi*** console. ^_^

  • jahanamy

    Posted Nov 30, 2005 1:16 pm PT

    what do you want from phone????in one pocket you have your psp or ds and in the other one your phone!!!i have my QD cos i love it .psp and ds are not phone they have nice games with cool graphic and so many thing but they are not phone.N-GAGE is gamers phone The N-Gage QD is a PHONE built especially for gamers thats all and for the true gamers it will last for ever..................

  • chrisdojo

    Posted Nov 30, 2005 10:47 am PT

    took long enough.....

  • Supermodified

    Posted Nov 30, 2005 9:41 am PT

    What's an N-gage?

  • Codexing

    Posted Nov 30, 2005 7:52 am PT

    You don't seem to understand what the N-Gage really is...
    The Nokia N-Gage is much more than a phone or a handheld. It is one of the best phones out there so far, with it's MP3 possibilities, Videoplayer included, and thousands of applications (I'll say it again, APPLICATIONS, not games).
    Also, the N-Gage has many more games already than the DS or the PSP has. It has so many Java and Symbian games that you can buy online that it's gaming capabilites are huge.
    I'm not saying the PSP or the DS are bad handhelds. I'm just saying the the N-Gage is in another kind of market. If you have ever seen a Nokia S60 phone (phones with Symbian OS), you will have probably seen that it has millions of games. Just make a google search looking for Symbian games or games for S60 phones.
    Also, do the DS or PSP have Microsoft Office? The N-Gage does (if you buy it, of course). You can install the Quickoffice Suite, which is quite functional.
    You can also install a GPS unit into the N-Gage with voice included. That's why the N-Gage and all the other S60 phones are so good.
    Just make a Google search with Nokia S60 as keywords and you will see the real potential of this phone.
    I don't have an N-Gage, because I have a Nokia 6670, which also has Symbian OS. But I still like the N-Gage a lot.

  • kamtong1

    Posted Nov 30, 2005 12:57 am PT

    who needs an n gage if theres a ds and a psp

  • mierdahp

    Posted Nov 29, 2005 7:38 pm PT

    well, apart from SATs, another thing to worry about :'(

  • Shadow338

    Posted Nov 29, 2005 5:50 pm PT

    I think Nokia's idea was good at the time, but maybe a phone and portable gaming device doesn't really mix. It just makes u think about well a cellphone. I'm sure if the N-gage had more support it could have lasted just a little longer. Personally I can't really say anything negative about the thing since I never played. But I do know when I saw the games, I wasn't really impressed, or did it make me want to get one. Out there somewhere in the world there are supporters like
    Petri87. whoever that is, is really taking this whole opinion thing to seriously, I mean come on, u got some serious problems. I nderstand u may be upset by what these people got to say, but calling America a s.h.i.t.a.s.s country, I think that just shows you're the one who's the idiot

  • cubeace6

    Posted Nov 29, 2005 5:21 pm PT

    about time the n-gage dies it sucks so much that barely any profit was made of off of the stupid cellphone/handheld game system hybred, nothing compared to the ds and the psp. just go out and buy a real portible game system!

  • umbrae

    Posted Nov 29, 2005 2:10 pm PT

    This is well "user-acceptance" testing is so important. Any tester that did not point out those HORRIBLE design flaws should be flogged for every sec that POS was on the market.

  • MrCHUP0N Site moderator

    Posted Nov 29, 2005 1:39 pm PT

    Unfortunately for Nokia, I think the bigger problem aside from the claims that the games weren't that great or that the initial launch unit was bulky and too expensive (both things that I personally do agree with) was that the N-Gage was just trying to capture an intersection of two fundamentally different markets and functions - trying to cross-breed entertainment and utility. I guess PC gaming is a staunch argument against the insinuation that work and play don't mix, but I sorta feel like when people are looking for a phone, they're thinking about play as a secondary thing. Are they really willing to buy separate gaming carts and turn it into a fully functional gaming system? If I didn't already own a cellular phone, GBmicro, PSP or DS (which I do), then yeah I might be interested a little. Bottom line is I guess not everyone cared too much about enthusiastically mixing fun and utility into one machine. Nokia had some decent ideas with their online arenas though.

  • Wulfei

    Posted Nov 29, 2005 12:38 pm PT

    I was going to buy one when it first came out...Now i'm glad I didn't

  • Alosjs

    Posted Nov 29, 2005 10:10 am PT

    N-gage is over. No one will buy it anymore.

  • halvedlife

    Posted Nov 29, 2005 9:51 am PT

    I admire Nokia for taking the risk, but the N-Gage is a total flop. Had they designed the first unit better (having to take the battery out to insert cartidges?!) and gotten better developer support, it might have had a chance. I'm amazed they even managed to sell 2 million units. However, the games look bad and play bad, and titles have slowed to a trickle. It's finished. Look in your local EB bargain bin next year for N-gage liquidation sales. $30.00 a pop.

  • gofigurephoenix

    Posted Nov 29, 2005 9:38 am PT

    *Sigh*...why Shanghai? Gah...why can't they just let the N-Gage die? It's competeing with DS and PSP and GBA users that also have an uber cool cellphone. I mean, seriously, give it up.

    Oh, and by the way, Shanghai doesn't have as many N-Gages as one would think. You hardly ever see someone running around with that horrible hunk of silicon and plastic molded to the side of their head. Ever.

  • miiiguel

    Posted Nov 29, 2005 7:59 am PT

    This comments are quite funny. The DS vs PSP; XB vs PS2; 360 vs PS3 (what's that anyway...?), I just find it funny. I buy the consoles I please, regarding on the most HW power, and the reviews and comments "without fanboism", I manage to get. One thing I never understood was peopling bashing other systems, I mean..., I support the soccer team of my city, not a console brand - that's kinda weird. I just imagine, if I was capable of not buying that amazing machine called X360, just because I liked PS2 so much! It doesn't make sense, I'm no Sony os MS fan, I just want I good machine (the best at the time), and for now it's PSP and X360.

  • snarple_basic

    Posted Nov 29, 2005 7:59 am PT

    Its dead in my mind

  • deathstarcant

    Posted Nov 29, 2005 7:49 am PT

    I have a nokia 3300 and it *looks* like an N-gage but isn't, and people come up to me all the time and go "Hahaha is that an N-gage?" and have to take 5 minutes explaining that it isn't and that i wouldn't ever even consider buying this peice of crap. The sooner people forget about it the sooner people dont think i'm a loser when they see my phone that looks like an n-gage. I don't side talk.

  • muego

    Posted Nov 29, 2005 7:48 am PT

    Don't forget one thing... The N-Gage is a good cell phone and it gives you the opportunity to play games on it. This is not a portable game console with a cell phone option. If you want to buy an N-Gage, your primary objective is to make some phone call. NEVER COMPARE N-GAGE WITH A DS OR A PSP.

  • Paul_TheGreat

    Posted Nov 29, 2005 7:08 am PT

    Nokia should just stay out of the games industry.

  • Jeffboy

    Posted Nov 29, 2005 6:43 am PT

    I simply don't like them. I have played them several times, and I did not enjoy myself. But that's just me, I'm not going to try and change the opinion of anyone here, I'm just stating mine. Personally, I think Nokia made the right decision to stop making N-gage's, like it or not, it did Flop. Nokia won't keep making them if people don't buy them, and people won't buy them if they don't like the product.
    If you did/do like the N-gage, fine. I have no problem with people who like the N-Gage, what I do have a problem with is when those people come online and call me (And people like me) idiots becuase we happen to have varying opinions.

    So if you love your N-gage, then play it! Stop complaining here and play it, my opinion is set. Besides, you like your N-Gage, you HAVE your N-Gage, why does it matter so much if other people like it too?

  • ranger_waha

    Posted Nov 29, 2005 6:35 am PT

    Woah,they're still making those things? But they are unplayable! I hate those little gadgets, like phones, but fatter and heavier and you can play really bad games on them.

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