Sony takes one more step in the gaming world with its new mobile game development studio, ForwardWorks. The new division was launched on April 1st, and is set in Tokyo, Japan. It will target the Asian markets initially.

Sony says that “ForwardWorks” will leverage the intellectual property of the numerous PlayStation® dedicated software titles and its gaming characters as well as the knowledge and know-how of gaming development expertise which was acquired over the years with PlayStation® business to provide gaming application optimized for smart devices including smartphones* to users in Japan and Asia.”

Similar efforts were taken by the company, back in 2011, when it came up with cross-compatible games developed under the PlayStation Mobile initiative. But these games were only meant to be played on the Playstation Suite and selected Android devices. Unfortunately, the company had to halt the venture last year, due to failure in appeasing its audience.

Sony appears to be following the footsteps of its rival Nintendo. Nintendo’s mobile-game app Militomo had been launched last month, reaching millions of downloads in just three days.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. has also re-branded itself by merging its PlayStation business from around the globe, under the banner Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.

“SIE will vigorously maximize the corporate value and create new business opportunities through the establishment of ForwardWorks”, the company announced.