Looking to capitalize on the massive success of mobile games like Pokemon GO, Sony announces that it is planning to launch up to five smartphone games by early 2018.

After launching earlier this summer, Pokemon GO has become a massive sensation, pulling in an astonishing amount of players looking to capture those elusive pocket monsters in the real world. The extremely lucrative mobile title did hit a rough patch but with new features and updates hitting on a more constant basis, Niantic hopes to keep people playing for as long as possible. As many probably assumed, it was only a matter of time before other companies began exploring the space to try and capitalize on the excitement.

One such company is Sony, which has taken a keen interest in the success of Pokemon GO since it launched earlier this year. The company confirmed that it is working on readying at least five smartphone games for release by early 2018. Sony Interactive Entertainment plans to take familiar PlayStation brands and spin them into mobile titles similar to what Nintendo is doing with its own franchises like Pokemon and Mario. ForwardWorks, a Sony company formed back in March to handle mobile titles, will also be in charge of distribution for these new titles.

In addition to original experiences, Sony hinted that some older titles that can no longer be played on hardware like the PlayStation 4 could be revived for smartphones. Not only that, it may be possible for future smartphone games to link to consoles as well. At this time, Sony has not provided any additional details regarding these plans, though the company did mention that titles in development will likely be announced by the end of the year, perhaps at the annual PlayStation Experience event.

For as much success as Pokemon GO has experienced over the past few months, Nintendo actually had very little to do with it, a fact that scared investors causing a drop of its shares by 17%. Nintendo has confirmed that the success of Pokemon GO has had a positive impact for the company on the whole, and that the company is bringing even more of its IP to this market like Super Mario Run for iOS. In addition to those previously mentioned smartphone games and Miitomo, fans apparently have even more to look forward to with Nintendo's aggressive plan to have up to five mobile games available by March 2017.

Are you excited to see what Sony can do with the mobile market? What types of games are you hoping for when they begin launching in 2018? Hit us up with your ideas in the comments below.

Source: Nikkei Asian Review