Nokia announces the death of the N-Gage

by David Hinkle { Oct 30th 2009 at 6:30PM }

This is going to come as a huge shock to you, but Nokia has announced that it's no longer supporting the N-Gage platform. It's just -- we never expected something like this to happen, to tell you the truth. For all intents and purposes, it seemed like the N-Gage would be around forever, a platform thriving in the portable space like no device has before it. Look at the iPhone, the DS, the PSP and even the fallen Gizmondo and it's quite apparent the N-Gage has always been the platform to beat.

Even though Nokia will halt all support for the N-Gage, it's still going to roll up all of its games into the Ovi Store, where N-Gage users will be able to access the content until September 2010. Just, uh, don't expect any new games over the next year, as Nokia will not be publishing anything for the device from here on out and any games that use community features will have those features disabled come September 2010. Anything you purchased is yours to keep, of course.

Now, if you'll excuse us, we're going to pour one out for the bounty of amazing games that we'll no longer get to play.

[Via Engadget]

Tags: n-gage, nokia

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

BigD145 @ Oct 30th 2009 6:34PM

N-Gage? Is it 2003 already?

Cowboy Curtis @ Oct 30th 2009 6:44PM

I thought this was 2009? I wonder what the PSP Go will look like in 6 years.. Well at least its not shaped like a Taco. Right?

Marty @ Oct 30th 2009 7:06PM

PSP Go Away?

PN04 @ Oct 30th 2009 7:15PM

Nice of them to catch up to the rest of the world. We announced it dead on arrival.

BigD145 @ Oct 30th 2009 7:43PM

The staff here are really sucking up to Nokia on this one. I haven't even seen a N-Gage in the last 5 years.

David Hinkle @ Oct 30th 2009 7:51PM

It's, uh, a joke. :)

VaultBoy @ Oct 30th 2009 10:06PM

Sega could blame piracy for their losses, but Nokia had the ultimate piracy protection: shitty games on a shitty platform that works neither as a phone nor a handheld game console with any level of efficiency. Thanks Nokia!

AoE @ Oct 30th 2009 11:30PM

@BigD145,

You probably haven't seen an ngage in ages because they stopped making them long ago. HOWEVER, they did keep ngage alive as a software platform for gaming on Nokia phones, it's this that they're killing off. Confusing, I know.

Meh @ Oct 31st 2009 9:01AM

"Nokia had the ultimate piracy protection: shitty games on a shitty platform that works neither as a phone nor a handheld game console with any level of efficiency."

so THAT'S why iPhone games are selling!

Rob S. @ Oct 30th 2009 6:34PM

They still supported it? Took them long enough.

Monica Dickey @ Oct 30th 2009 7:47PM

Yeah I'm shocked this thing even got a mention. I thought it tanked months after releasing it.

As soon as I heard of it I knew it would be a huge failure.

VaultBoy @ Oct 30th 2009 10:00PM

They held out longer than sega did on most hardware. I miss the dreamcast... *tear*

VaultBoy @ Oct 30th 2009 10:01PM

They held out longer than sega did on most hardware. I miss the dreamcast... *tear*

VaultBoy @ Oct 30th 2009 10:04PM

Stupid buggy web browser. Reply Fail.

KeenCommander @ Oct 30th 2009 10:13PM

You do realize that people still make Dreamcast games, right? And that in most cases, at least from what I've heard, they're actually good? Granted that fact is in no way SEGA's responsibility, but...

Levi @ Oct 30th 2009 11:12PM

People still make NES games too. A guy I know is finishing up a game called Battle Kid as we speak. He will be releasing it for sale on brand new carts. Sorta like a one hit death Megaman.

Thing is, that's not the support that they are talking about here. NGage went to a digital format shortly after the NGage 2 hardware failed as miserably as the first. With Nokia ending support for the NGage platform, I bet it means users eill no longer be able to download the games they paid for. You know, the biggest fear of every digital downloader.

Not that I care, I've never owned a Nokia. However, this is just foreshadowing the death of things like Steam and PNS... Years down the road, our digital data will become extinct, and lord help us all if our HDDs fail...

whylekat @ Oct 31st 2009 10:15AM

@ Levi

that's wayy too much information for something we all care soo little about.

nriveraexpress @ Oct 30th 2009 6:35PM

lol yea right real shock, what is a shock is that they still have games coming out for it so this article sais

Doctor John Smith @ Oct 30th 2009 6:55PM

You see, there is this thing called a "joke" that the writers at joystiq sometimes like to put in their articles.

nriveraexpress @ Oct 30th 2009 7:12PM

sigh* you foolish little girl the ovi store is still up with stuff for the n gauge, as for the rest of it i know its a joke

Zexion_VI @ Oct 30th 2009 6:37PM

Not gonna lie.. I wanted one.

RANDOM G [XBL: NYMZ777, PSN: NYMALICIOUS] @ Oct 30th 2009 6:38PM

You should have lied.

CaramelZappa @ Oct 30th 2009 7:07PM

I've always wanted to get an N-gage and a Gizmondo. It's the kind of thing I could put on my shelf and every time I'd see it I would smile.

RANDOM G [XBL: NYMZ777, PSN: NYMALICIOUS] @ Oct 30th 2009 6:39PM

Farewell taco phone!

C.A. @ Oct 30th 2009 6:41PM

Thankfully we hardly knew ye.

Obie @ Oct 30th 2009 6:44PM

Taco-Taco-Burrito-Burrito.

Silicon Siren @ Oct 30th 2009 7:15PM

Damnit, beat me to the taco jokes.

Darth Bradwart, Dark Lord of the Sith @ Oct 30th 2009 8:57PM

Black Taco?

Sly @ Oct 30th 2009 10:51PM

dr, you're a racist taco.

Darth Bradwart, Dark Lord of the Sith @ Oct 31st 2009 12:18AM

You haven't heard of the Taco Bell Black Taco?

Sly @ Oct 31st 2009 2:09AM

i have. it was a joke.

Sandmonkey @ Oct 30th 2009 6:41PM

I'm guessing for the past 5 years they were wallowing in a pool of their own denial.

Archon (PSN: Archonik, XBL: DarkARHN) @ Oct 30th 2009 6:41PM

That's annoying. You are misinforming people Joystiq.

Just look at Rob S.
"They still supported it? Took them long enough."

IT'S NOT THE NOKIA PHONE THAT'S BEING DISCOUNTED. That happened years ago.

That's for an UNRELATED game service by Nokia. They named it N-Gage to commemorate their original efforts.

You did the same thing last time. When you reported on N-Gage you made it sound as if it was about the phone to make it sound more reasonable.

It's not. N-Gage service =/= N-Gage phone. But it doesn't really matter now as they are both dead.

I like my journalism on a certain level of 'being-not-made-up-to-sound-better'.

Zexion_VI @ Oct 30th 2009 6:53PM

I'm really happy for you, and I'mma let you finish, but Joystiq had the best wall of text on the N-Gage of all time!

CaramelZappa @ Oct 30th 2009 7:00PM

Right from using the picture of the original n-gage to lines like "Even though Nokia will halt all support for THE N-Gage" without clarifying what the difference is between N-gage the phone and the platform. Those of us that already knew nokia discontinued the phone long ago and started up the gaming software platform recently aren't really effected, but any reader who wasn't aware would easily be confused.

PN04 @ Oct 30th 2009 7:20PM

I generally felt anything related to the name "n-gage" was pretty much doomed whether it was the tacophone that died in 2003 or their attempts to salvage the name for a platform that no one wanted to use because it was tied to the dead phone. Either way you look at it there was no saving it and I'm surprised Nokia wasted this much time after the phone itself died trying to drag anymore out of it.

CaramelZappa @ Oct 30th 2009 6:44PM

I never understood why they tried to relaunch n-gage as a platform in the first place. It seemed obvious that it was a horrible idea.

MarioMario @ Oct 30th 2009 6:49PM

I clicked on the Gizmondo tag. You got me good Joystiq :(

ChuckBartowski @ Oct 30th 2009 7:06PM

lawlz. me too....

ALBGunner04 @ Oct 31st 2009 9:43PM

JoeStillLife @ Oct 30th 2009 6:56PM

ugliest phone that was ever made

PedoJokerBear [Planeteer | Power of Gall Bladder] @ Oct 30th 2009 7:53PM

it was a phone?!!?!?

NintendoJunkie @ Oct 30th 2009 7:00PM

Oh this brings back memories...

Flash back to 2003...

I was working @ Cingular Wireless & while working there I bought this...

http://www.waping.com.ar/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/nokia-3300.jpg

Looking back now...it was quite a ridiculous phone. It was pretty awesome @ the time tho considering that it was the first Cingular phone which would allow you to put MP3's on it. I recall having Staind & GNR as ringers on the phone. My musical tastes have changed since then mind you. It was quite similar in design & in shape (as obvious from the photos) to the NGAGE. I sold it on ebay for nearly what I paid for it (full retail price) about a few months later.

Customers that bought the NGAGE @ EB Games would bring it in & want us to activate it. We were unable to do so in the stores, so we would often refer them to calling customer service to activate it.