Titanfall, the top-selling Xbox game, is making the leap from the console to mobile devices.
On Thursday, Respawn Entertainment, the developer of Titanfall, and Nexon, an Asian online and mobile game company seeking to build its business in the West, plan to announce a partnership to create several original smartphone and tablet games based on the science fiction universe of Titanfall. The first of the games will come out on iOS and Android next year.
Nexon, known for popular games like MapleStory and Kart Rider, will publish the games, which will involve running the online operations and acquiring players. A new mobile game development studio, Particle City, will develop the mobile games. Particle City was co-founded by Vince Zampella, also the co-founder and chief executive of Respawn.
Owen Mahoney, the president and chief executive of Nexon, said in a phone interview that the games would not be clones of the Xbox version of Titanfall, a critically acclaimed game that lets players wage battles inside giant armor suits called mechs. He said the mobile versions of Titanfall were likely to be real-time strategy games, which are easier to play on touch screens than shooter games.
“We’re extending out the universe,” said Mr. Mahoney. “If you’re like me, you don’t want to stop playing Titanfall because you’ve stepped away from the console.”
Nexon is widely credited with pioneering the online free-to-play business model for games that is now the standard for the most successful mobile games. Free-to-play games allow a level of basic gameplay free, but charge players for more powerful weapons, currency and other virtual items that can enhance their game experiences.
While Nexon’s largest markets are in Asia, especially China, Korea and Japan, it has struck a series of deals with game developers based in the United States to build its audience in the West. Next year, Nexon plans to publish a game called LawBreakers developed by Boss Key Productions, a studio co-founded by Cliff Bleszinski, a well-known designer for the game Gears of War.