Kaz Hirai, CEO of Sony, reveals plans for the company to pursue mobile gaming 'aggressively', while praising the success of Pokemon GO as a prime example of how to achieve success.

There's little doubt that consumers have once again given rise to the popularity of the monster-filled, zeitgeist of marketing known as Pokemon – thanks almost entirely to the mobile initiative called Pokemon GO. The wild success of this game has caught the attention of a great number of consumers, but it has also undoubtedly got the gears turning in the heads of several high-ranking business executives that currently find themselves in the gaming industry. Case in point, Sony CEO Kaz Hirai, who now has plans for "aggressively breaking into" the mobile gaming market.

Speaking with the Financial Times, Hirai loosely elaborated on Sony's current position. While refusing to show all of his cards at this point in time, the CEO did admit that the change from developing exclusively for PlayStation 4 hardware to dedicating resources to mobile projects is a substantial one. "It's quite a shift from being just a console-based business to being on mobile phones as well," said Hirai.

Not content on simply alluding to plans, the Sony head honcho proceeded to then reference the immediate success of Pokemon GO as a "game-changer" for the industry. Without confirming plans to follow suit with a similar augmented reality-driven piece of software, Hirai did express interest in the way the Pocket Monster spin-off has been able to get consumers moving around the real world.

"Pokemon Go is a real game-changer. I'm very interested in the fact that it has the potential to really change the way people move, literally."

It's not surprising to see others impressed with the reach a game like Pokemon GO has had, and there are plans in place by developer Niantic to ensure that gamers are kept entertained by the title. For example, the upcoming buddy system for Pokemon GO is sure to restore interest amongst players, while the inevitable inclusion of more Pocket Monsters from newer generations will ensure that fans keep doing their very best to catch 'em all.

Meanwhile, Sony has other major plans on the horizon that will be occupying its time, namely the forthcoming unveiling of its PlayStation 4 Neo console. The platform is said to be announced alongside a PlayStation 4 Slim on September 7, 2016 at an event in New York City, which only reconfirms that the company is remaining dedicated to supporting its own platform – despite these newfound plans to also tackle mobile.

Source: Financial Times (via Polygon)