Fighting Microsoft and Sony? The Magic Egg Console has become the cloud video chain in the domestic gaming industry

Although Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PS4 have been in China for quite some time, domestic game and hardware manufacturers still seem to have not figured out the exact situation of game consoles.

At the end of July, taking advantage of the popularity of Chinajoy, Magic Egg Technology released a product in Shanghai claiming to be "the first entertainment console in China". In early August, Magic Egg once again brought this egg-shaped product to the Cologne Game Show. Following this, various news about "Microsoft and Sony fighting, Magic Egg's strong intervention" flooded the market.

This really makes people feel that it is a bit too hyped.

Is the Magic Egg considered a game console?

Although the more obscure name of "home entertainment console" makes the title of "the first in China" feasible, if we refer to the definition of such devices in the entry documents of Xbox One or PS4 into China, it is not difficult to find that the Magic Egg Console is actually intended to be a game console.

Putting aside the question of whether it is the "first in China", is the Magic Egg qualified as a game console?

First, from the hardware point of view, "it uses a 4-core 2.0GHz CPU, an 8-core GPU, 2GB DDR3 memory, and 16GB flash memory (supports 32GB TF expansion)", and the specific chip model is unknown. However, it is obviously another high-end Android phone configuration that is "comparable to the current mainstream PC" on the PPT.

As for the GPU graphics processor, which is the most important thing for gaming devices, the 8-core Mali-450 configuration of the Magic Egg console can only be regarded as a product of the last "era". Even if it is placed in the category of smartphones, the floating-point computing power of less than 50GFLOPS is only at the level of Samsung Galaxy S4 three years ago. The lack of support for various graphics processing specifications including OpenGL ES 3.0 also shows that this is definitely not a good choice for a gaming console, let alone a fight with Microsoft and Sony.

In addition, in terms of software and game content, although Modan is aware of the worrying dilemma of the content of Android gaming devices, its solution of "focusing on building an ecosystem of high-quality console games" still sounds like empty talk.

Although the desire to introduce exclusive games is beautiful, unlike products equipped with NVIDIA Tegra chips that have Tegra Zone and various "halos", the lackluster performance parameters will certainly not provide developers with a favorable environment to display their talents. There is no differentiation in hardware. On the basis of the same Android system, trying to "abandon most of the current mobile game ported TV games" and trying to achieve differentiation in content is undoubtedly even more difficult. At least in the system display of the Magic Egg console, "Joe Danger" placed in a prominent position is a mobile game that has already been launched on iOS and Android mobile platforms.

The farce of YouxiaX and Yunshi Chain is repeated in the domestic game industry

The wave of entrepreneurship in China has led to all kinds of unreliable products spreading across almost every corner where entrepreneurial opportunities may exist. First there was Yunshi Chain, which faked academic qualifications, and then there was the Youxia electric car, which took 15 months to complete a copy of Tesla. With the emergence of the Magic Egg console, this trend has gradually spread to the domestic game and console industry.

From Chinajoy, the most popular domestic event, to the Cologne Game Show, which occupies an important position internationally, from the repeated emphasis on "the first in China" to the confidence that the hardware performance is "comparable to PC", if the creator of the Magic Egg console is not a complete layman in the game console industry, then traveling around the world with such a console product that is difficult to match the name of the game must have some special purpose.

Frankly speaking, the combined sales of Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PS4 in China are only 300,000 units, which shows that professional game consoles are not easy to sell in China. Even with powerful NVIDIA chips, Android game consoles with better cost performance are not popular among players. It remains a question what can boost the domestic console market.

But whether it is the product itself or the feedback from players on the Internet, the newly launched "first domestic entertainment console" will definitely not be the answer to changing this situation. What's more, the continuous emergence of Android gaming devices by domestic manufacturers in the past year has made the price positioning of domestic consoles increasingly clear. The price of the Magic Egg console at 699 yuan is still some distance away from the fact that it wants to insist on "hardware is not profitable."

The domestic game console industry has just recovered and does need more equipment and products to make the industry lively. However, if these "more equipment and products" are just chasing the trend with the names of game consoles or consoles, and their functions and performance are insufficient, and ultimately fail to impress players, then the only role of "more equipment and products" may be to make users lose confidence in the prospects of domestic consoles, and put the entire industry into a more difficult situation.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.