Nokia announces death of N-Gage mobile gaming 7 years after its birth

Nokia has announced that it is shutting down its N-Gage gaming platform now that it is offering so many games through its Ovi Store. The company has said that current N-Gage games will be still be available for purchase trough the end of September, 2010. N-Gage community features like N-Gage Arena will be closed at the end of 2010, and Nokia has said that it will try to implement similar functionality in the Ovi Store.

The N-Gage platform, Nokia's first foray into mobile gaming that started in 2002, has been a disappointment for Nokia from the start. The first N-Gage phone was widely panned for its oddball "side-talking" form factor, and the follow-up device did little better. N-Gage games have been available on many other Nokia S60 devices for some time, but still failed to take off.

You can read more at the official Nokia N-Gage blog.