Sony is planning to launch more than five new smartphone games in order to compete for a slice of the mobile games market.

All the games are expected to ship before March 2018 on IOS and Android devices through Sony's FowardWorks subsidiary, which it opened earlier this year specifically for the focus on penetration the mobile gaming market.

Further details were scarce but it was revealed that the games will come to Japan and then other Asian countries first.

Serkan Toto, CEO of Japanese gaming consultant and advisory group Kantan Games commented on the initiative:

"Japan is a market where Sony and other console makers are struggling to sell units. Sony had to react. People are consuming smartphone games like there is no tomorrow"

Toto goes on to talk about the uphill battle Sony will face, as its IP are not nearly as strong as Nintendo's from a brand perspective. He believes that unless it hits the ground running, Sony's smartphone games initiative will have a similar fate to that of its portable game business, he of course is referring to the PlayStation Vita.

"Nobody talks about the Vita anymore."

While this quite extreme stance might be debatable (especially considering that the handheld sells quite well in Japan), it'll be interesting to see what Sony will do in the mobile space.