Google’s Android Video Game Console

By Author: Kelly Burby
Total Articles: 349
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The launches of Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4 created too much buzz this holiday season and now, the next exclusive news is that Google too is developing and will apparently launch its Android powered video game console by the end of 2013 (see footnote 1). The company has also been reported to work on a smart-watch and a home media streaming devices, the Nexus Q (see footnote 2).

Google is now no more a software-only company as it has already launched its own line of Android powered mobile devices dubbed as Nexus. It also acquired Motorola in May 2012; however, in buying the hardware company, Google made clear its desire to acquire the estimated 25,000 patents held by Motorola (see footnote 3).

Google’s decision to develop an Android-based video game device is another move in the hardware industry, and according to analysts, it seems to be a direct response to rumors of an Apple-deigned gaming system. But with rising ...
... popularity of mobile games, it is actually not surprising to see that Google and Apple too want to enter the home game console market. They already have good contents to quickly make their gaming platforms popular.

Is Google’s entry to the gaming device market going to pose any kind of threat to well-settled manufacturers, such as Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo? Many believe that an Android-based video game system will certainly have bright future in a domain where a handful of companies are leading with high-power devices.

A company has already invented a low-end Android powered console and is performing well in the market. In December last year, Julie Uhrman, a game industry veteran, founded a video game console project dubbed as OUYA. The Digital Trend gave this device a three-star rating for its sleek, attractive and compact design, inexpensive games, playable demos, and the possibility of a huge number of exclusive games from the community. When OUYA entered the market, many viewed it as a potentially disruptive force in the traditional gaming industry and will again see the Google’s gaming device in similar light.

The Google gaming device can succeed because of several reasons. First, Android based gaming apps are cheaper. Many of these apps are freemium, with in-app purchases. Second, with the right support of Google, Android developers would be able to modify their games to run on this video game system too and the third is that Android platform already has hundreds of thousands of gaming apps so there will not be a shortage of games to encourage users quickly adopting the device.

Footnotes
1. Google Is Developing Android Game Console - The Wall Street Journal, June 27, 2013,
2. WSJ: Google working on an Android-powered game system, smart watch and new Nexus Q - Engadget, June 27, 2013
3. Google Buys Motorola: The Patent Wars Ramp Up - HUFF POST Business, 15 August, 2011