The domestic gaming industry is booming. Where should domestically produced Android gaming consoles go?

The lifting of the ban on game consoles has allowed many game manufacturers to see the prospects. Sony and Microsoft certainly will not miss the opportunity to enter the Chinese market. The entry of PS4 and Xbox One into China has also reduced the enthusiasm of many domestic game console manufacturers by half.

However, due to various reasons, the sales of next-generation consoles in China did not meet the expectations of Sony and Microsoft, which also slightly eased the fragile hearts of domestic game console giants. However, NVIDIA's Huang made a high-profile move to get involved with Shield TV at this time.

Faced with the turbulent situation in the country, where should domestic Android consoles go?

Poor performance and serious hardware and software fragmentation

At present, most domestic game consoles are developed based on ARM-structured hardware and are basically Android systems. Although some machines are equipped with Tegra series chips and have high-end configurations such as multi-core, their performance is still between smart mobile devices and computers.

None of these can compete with the Xbox One's DX11.1-tailored GPU and 8-core X86-architecture AMD processor , or the PS4's 8-core X86-architecture 64AMD Jaguar processor, not to mention the Android software system, and they can't compare with the software giant Microsoft.

Although Huang's Shield TV is also based on the Android system, it relies on NVIDIA's technical support, the eight-core Tegra X1 core, supplemented by 3GB RAM + 16GB ROM space, and the 4K-level high-definition picture quality is catching up with the next-generation consoles.

Faced with such a fierce momentum, how can domestic Android consoles break through?

The next-generation consoles may seem like an unattainable peak, but there is actually a way to narrow the gap, and that is time.

Looking at the domestic market, the speed of PC updates is obvious to all, and smart mobile devices are changing even faster. Faced with such a fast-developing technology, the development of Android consoles can be imagined. Looking back at the next-generation consoles, taking PS as an example, PS3 was sold in 2006, and it took 7 years for PS4 to enter the eyes of players. Although the performance is strong, it is also the result of ten years of hard work.

From the perspective of mobile device development, mobile phones have gradually turned to 64-bit systems. Based on their development, we can imagine the changes in the Android system in game consoles. The installation and upgrade of Tegra series chips also provide support for the hardware of domestic consoles.

Although it is impossible to compete with the next-generation consoles in a short period of time, with the changes in ARM-based hardware structure, the performance gap with game consoles may be shortened within 3-5 years, before the next-generation consoles are born.

Too many big games ported, but not enough specialized games

If there is no game, the game console is just empty talk. Based on this principle, every domestic Android game console has unprecedentedly rich content. However, if you observe carefully, you will find that although there are many games, the "quality" is not enough.

As they are unwilling to spend a long time and a lot of money to make games, domestic game CPs, based on the premise that the console is based on the Android system and aim to provide a variety of games in a short period of time, set their sights on mobile devices under the same system, so porting became a "solution".

On mobile devices, most games are casual games, which means that casual games account for a large proportion of the ported games. Although there are some relatively in-depth games, the gaming results are not satisfactory due to various issues such as adaptation and graphics that arise during the porting process. When players get tired of casual games on their mobile phones, they cannot find some excitement on the console.

Over-reliance on porting and lack of content depth make the future of domestic consoles worrying.

Although the development of games for the next-generation consoles in China is too slow, it does not mean that the large number of domestic consoles can surpass PS4 and Xbox One. In addition to providing games for PS4, Sony also cooperates with many game companies, which allows many high-quality and long-lasting games to be displayed on the powerful next-generation consoles. Ubisoft's "Assassin's Creed" and 2K Sports' "NBA 2K" series are all top-notch games.

Microsoft is also like this in terms of game content. On the other hand, domestic game CPs, in addition to porting and cracking, make the content of Android consoles uneven and unable to meet the bottom line of the domestic public. There is a lack of masterpieces, and there are no exclusive games for game consoles. This makes the game consoles far behind NVIDIA's Shield TV in terms of content, not to mention the next-generation consoles that are far ahead in the game industry.

Relying on mobile games and porting alone, game consoles cannot survive for long. Without blockbusters and specialized works, Android consoles cannot rise. How do domestic game consoles want to make a comeback?

In the face of such a dilemma, looking for game producers for Android game consoles and seeking cooperation may be a good choice.

Awkward positioning, squeezed by host, mobile devices and other factors

Android game consoles are not exclusive to China. Ouya, Gamestick, MOJO, etc. all have their own game consoles, and these developers have strong software and hardware foundations. With their good performance foundation and games, they have quickly occupied a corner of the foreign game market.

Seeing the hot Android market, Huawei and The9 have also launched their own Android game consoles, but they are labeled as set-top boxes. Even though the domestic game console policy has been lifted, there are still many hardware manufacturers waiting and watching. Even if they launch a console, they dare not use the title of "game console", and the content is not just games.

The unclear positioning distorted the Chinese people's perception of Android game consoles, and the emergence of game boxes has further hit the domestic console market. The introduction of "boxes" has also led to many businesses imitating them. Tmall, Xiaomi, etc. have also launched devices that focus on TV content and supplement games, which has once again blurred the concept of game consoles.

After the introduction of PS4 and Xbox One into China, the public began to believe that game consoles should be like Sony's PS4 and Nintendo's Wiiu, which meant that domestic game consoles could only be sandwiched between videos and games.

On the other hand, the pace of life in China is too fast, and people spend less time at home. Most people rely on mobile devices to play games and entertain themselves in fragmented time. The rapid development of mobile phones has also led to users frequently changing their phones, and the increase in mobile video apps has also reduced the role of the "box".

Being squeezed between the console and the mobile phone, the position of the Android console is quite awkward, and cognitive misunderstandings make its status even more worrying.

Faced with such an unfavorable situation, it seems that there is no room for game consoles to turn around. However, domestic Android game consoles also have their own advantages over next-generation consoles. They are small in size, cheap in price, and gradually improving in performance. If exclusive games for the Android system appear, there is still a lot of potential to be tapped.

To change the perception of the Chinese people, it is still up to the console manufacturers to carry out necessary publicity. Although there are still many uncontrollable factors, now that the ban on the game console industry has been lifted, domestic Android game consoles will definitely have a promising future.

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.