For many of us, Nintendo have been a part of growing up. From the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), through to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and all the way up through M64, GameCube and the Wii systems; all long before mobile phones were around. Now according to a report from Nikkei they’re looking to the future by basing their next games console on the Android operating system.
While the translation is not the best, Kotaku have done a bit more digging and found that Nintendo have decided that instead of further developing their own platform the NX will feature Android as the base operating system. The huge bonus for Nintendo on this front is the volume of game developers already actively pushing their products into the Android space.
“This would be able to speed up getting all game developers on board.”
With the previous news that Nintendo will enter the Mobile Gaming Market, this may be the logical step for them to move to an Android based platform simplifying development and maximising market share.
Has the games console market got serious competition with the Nvidia Shield on its way and now a Nintendo competitor, or is it still Xbox Vs Playstation?
This rumour also did the rounds before the Wii U came out.
Poor Nintendo, Android’s pirates are going to eat them alive
I doubt they are going to run stock Android.
Stock or not, pirates and Android are always synonyms, and this turned out to be a fake, I’m so glad of that
If it’s true.. Android. Not the Google Play ecosystem.
I can see the next handheld running Android, but console?
Nintendo entering the Android console market will turn it into a 4-way contest, and so far, no-one has any actual sixes on the board.
More the merrier I say. Competition growth and volume are all good for the platform. You sneak android or android TV into a “mainstream” console brand and it will up the distribution for developers and perhaps drive more and better apps and services to the platform.
Kotaku headline: “Rumor: Nintendo’s Next Console Will Use Android”
Ausdroid headline: “Nintendo’s new console to run on Android”
Did anyone else spot the difference?
I thought their business model was game licencing?
To whom?
They make all their money from selling consoles and games.
Licencing games written by other people to run on their platforms. That’s their major income stream, not the hardware. Selling an Android device makes no sense for them. They lose control of the platform.
They would not use stock android. Amazon has not lost control of their platform although it hasn’t been too successful.
I suppose licensing fees for their handholds would be decent, but 3rd party support on their consoles isn’t always great.
All their hardware has always been sold at profit bar the 3DS at one point I believe. And a lot of their games have a pretty high adoption rate. I expect that is where a lot of their money comes from.