Nintendo will have Android powering its new NX (codename) console. That’s according to a report by Japanese newspaper Nikkei.
The paper reports that Nintendo is planning to load the console with Android that would be able to speed up getting all game developers on board.
Android is being considered as a possibility only to drive Nintendo’s declining console sales it needs to attract third-party developers to develop games for its console. The Wii U is just the latest example of Nintendo struggling to maintain strong third-party support. A move to a more universal operating system would certainly ease development, making NX ports cheaper and less of a risk.
This will be one of the key factors for Nintendo considering it has plans to enter the mobile game development with DeNA, this would considerably cut development time when working on ports of games. Also, the UI which the Japanese company would use for its console could heavily differ from the UI’s seen currently on phones and tablets. Nintendo would focus on how to make its games run smoothly without having the Google apps to interfere with it.
One of the things to take note from this would be Nintendo parting ways with its in-huse operating system which Nintendo has been developing for so many years. Console using Android have had a tough time in the market (Ouya and Nvidia’s Shield devices) not doing really well as the phones and the tablets have become a force of its own and can run heavy files without showing any signs of phone going slow or having any lags. Being a gaming company, Nintendo will have to build may be a store of its own where the company to put it the apps and software of its own without having to rely on Google to make the interface clunky.
This will certainly take away the proprietary ecosystem which it used to control but give in to more democratic system where it has content with its modern world hardware and with Android on its side it can just do good for Android too making it a powerful gaming operating system which can run performance sucking games with ease.
It may be some time before we hear anything from Nintendo as it will not reveal any details on NX, even at the E3 press conference later this month.