We've got Sony's upcoming PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One. Just recently, we've got Ouya as well. The latest additions to the video game console arena? Google and possibly even Apple, according to reports. Bottom line? "From a hardware standpoint it is going to be messy," predicted Brett Sappington, director of research at Parks Associates.
Google's Android and Apple's iOS are both popular gaming platforms already, of course, but on mobile devices including handsets and tablets. These latest moves suggest that both are looking more closely at the living room -- which isn't completely a surprise.
Both companies have attempted to launch set-top boxes already, so a console component would make sense.
"The console is the device in the living room that is most often connected to the Internet," Brett Sappington, director of research at Parks Associates, told TechNewsWorld. "This is a smart move for Google, as they want to get connected to the TV."
How game makers feel about this ever-expanding array of platforms remains to be seen. Among the more established big players, both Sony and Microsoft recently unveiled upcoming new systems of their own.
"Game developers have at least four platforms that they have to port their software to, including the PC, Sony's PS3/PS4, Microsoft's Xbox 360/Xbox One and Nintendo's Wii/Wii U," Sappington pointed out.
"If Apple and Google can't get the developers to make games then they can't succeed," he added. "Those systems that don't get support from game developers quickly fall by the wayside."
Just weeks ago, discussion on the gaming front focused primarily on Microsoft and Sony. Now the war has expanded to include multiple new combatants.
"From a hardware standpoint it is going to be messy," Sappington predicted. "There are multiple devices out there, and that is going to be confusing for all involved.
"It is possible that Google can capture casual gamers the same way that game-console makers capture the hardcore gamers," he added.
Google, however, is interested in "free-to-play models, and business models that could be useful for a streaming media box like a Roku, where gaming isn't the primary function," Sappington said. "For Google or Apple to actually go toe-to-toe with Sony and Microsoft would be very difficult."
From the article, "Google May Crash Game Console Party" by Peter Suciu.
