With 60 million subscribers under its belt, Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo is to launch its own social gaming platform on Android before the end of 2012.

That's according to Tokyo-based mobile consultant Dr. SerkanToto, who reports the carrier will move into competition with the likes of GREE and DeNA with the support of Sega, Capcom, Namco Bandai and Cave already secured.

Major move

Interestingly, Toto claims that the new platform won't be limited to NTT DoCoMo customers.

The as-of-yet unnamed network will also be available to consumers signed up to rival operators, launching with an expected 30 free-to-play releases available from day one.

"Key point: DoCoMo charges only 20 percent platform usage fees, while developers usually need to pay almost double that number to DeNA and GREE," adds Toto.

"This makes sense, as the roughly 10 percent DoCoMo and other carriers charge from DeNA and GREE - and by extension from devs - for virtual item payments don’t play a role on DoCoMo's own platform - that 10 percent is the carrier billing fee."

While the move is yet to be officially announced by DoCoMo itself, a link to the gaming platform will reportedly be pre-loaded onto all phones the firm ships this winter, with 2,000 DoCoMo outlets also pushing the new brand hard.

[source: SerkanToto]