Monday, June 24, 2013

Reuters: Technology News: Microsoft to bring 'Age of Empires' to Apple, Android phones

Posted by Isabella on 8:38 PM

Reuters: Technology News
Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com
Microsoft to bring 'Age of Empires' to Apple, Android phones
Jun 25th 2013, 02:57

  • Tweet
  • Share this
  • Email
  • Print

Analysis & Opinion

The Microsoft logo is seen at their offices in Bucharest March 20, 2013. REUTERS/Bogdan Cristel

The Microsoft logo is seen at their offices in Bucharest March 20, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Bogdan Cristel

By Malathi Nayak and Tim Kelly

SAN FRANCISCO/TOKYO | Mon Jun 24, 2013 10:57pm EDT

SAN FRANCISCO/TOKYO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp will offer its popular "Age of Empires" game for Apple Inc's iPhone and other smartphones through a tie-up with Japan's KLab Inc, seeking to capture growth in a booming mobile game market.

Microsoft's gaming business is dependent primarily on its Xbox franchise but mobile devices have been eating into the gaming industry, luring consumers away from traditional consoles.

While the tech giant has released a few mobile games for iOS and Android like Wordament, "Age of Empires" is its most popular game to date to be offered beyond its own consoles.

The strategy is one that analysts argue other game machine makers such as Mario Brothers creator Nintendo Co Ltd could consider in a bid to leverage their software assets.

KLab will develop a mobile version of "Age of Empires" which will be released before the end of March, a KLab spokesperson said.

Shares in KLab were overwhelmed by a glut of buy orders in Tokyo trade on Tuesday, with its price indicated at 972 yen, 18 percent higher than its last close.

Contrary to an earlier report, the agreement is only to develop a mobile version of "Age of Empires" and there were no announcements on other titles, the two companies said.

The historical strategy game will be released worldwide in English for iPhones and Android-based phones, "with plans to release the game in other languages and on a Windows Phone in the future," a Microsoft spokesperson said.

(Editing by Bernard Orr and Edwina Gibbs)

  • Tweet this
  • Link this
  • Share this
  • Digg this
  • Email
  • Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/

Comments (0)

Be the first to comment on reuters.com.

Add yours using the box above.
You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com.

If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

 
Great HTML Templates from easytemplates.com.