Nintendo led the charge by promising to bring some of its biggest characters to smartphones, and now Sony has revealed it plans to do the same through new company, ForwardWorks. 

Announced today, ForwardWorks will, in Sony's own words, "deploy new services towards the ever-expanding smart device market."

The new wing will open for business on April 1 - the day of the Sony Interactive Entertainment rebrand - and will create apps as well as "full-fledged game titles" for Android and iOS smart devices. 

"ForwardWorks will leverage the intellectual property of the numerous PlayStation dedicated software titles and its gaming characters […] to provide gaming application optimized for smart devices including smartphones." read a Sony statement. 

"The company will aim to deliver users with opportunity to casually enjoy fully-fledged game titles in the new field of the smart device market."

ForwardWorks will be based in Tokyo, Japan, and, for the time being, will create smartphone apps and games aimed specifically at players in Asia. 

Atsushi Morita, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Asia, will head up the new outfit.