Domestic game consoles embrace Android as a shortcut but also a barrier

As we all know, Microsoft XBOX and Sony PlayStation series are the two leading representatives in the current game console industry. Especially in the more mature foreign game market, game consoles filled with exclusive masterpieces and 3A-level games firmly control the leading position in the overall game market, which is far more professional and enthusiastic than the PC games and mobile games that domestic users are familiar with. In recent years, with the failure of Nintendo's eighth-generation console WiiU, the strong platform advantage has also made it almost impossible for a third product in the international market to shake the position of the above two.

With the return of the gaming industry to the mainland market this year, the enthusiasm of domestic manufacturers with keen sense of smell to seize the opportunity has gradually made the domestic gaming console market, which had been dormant for a long time, lively again. From terminal equipment manufacturers to Internet companies, more and more gaming consoles are entering the market quickly. However, behind the different appearance designs and different hardware parameters, these domestic games have the same foundation - Android.

Free system plus mature resources, Android greatly reduces the threshold for game console development

Like smartphones, the free and customizable features make the Android system the only choice for domestic game consoles. On the other hand, the increasingly powerful hardware performance of mobile devices has also significantly improved the quality of games on the Android platform. For new manufacturers who are eager to make money in the field of professional gaming equipment but suffer from a lack of experience, this is enough to give them hope.

As early as the summer of 2013, Google announced that the number of applications on its official application platform Google Play had reached 1 million. Among them, the download volume and revenue contributed by game applications accounted for 40% and 90% of the entire platform respectively. Users' positive attitude towards the gaming experience on Android devices has encouraged this most popular operating system to become a new gaming paradise.

Are you still worried about the poor quality of Android games? Please look at the problem from a development perspective. The quality of games on the current Android platform has long been on par with that on Apple's iOS. Large games with a capacity of several GB are often more diverse in gameplay. The leap in game graphics has also made it possible for Android game experience to break through mobile phones and tablets and move to large screens.

At the game development level, from emulators and ported games to natively developed blockbuster games, it is no longer an impossible task to pick up a controller and experience Android games like a traditional game console. With the same mature hardware system as current smartphones and the so-called "game platformization" modifications that mainly focus on adaptation work, it is not difficult to develop a game console that "looks like that" with the help of the successful experience of the Android platform.

The rise of Android game consoles, but players are not buying it

However, from the user's perspective, the Android game consoles developed by domestic manufacturers seem to be somewhat "wishful thinking". There are not many consumers willing to spend money on such games, which is in sharp contrast to the blossoming domestic game console market.

The concept of Android game consoles is obviously just to magnify and core the game part of the Android system. However, Android is an intelligent operating system launched by Google for mobile devices, whether it is mobile phones, tablets or new wearable devices. Games are only a part of the development of the Android ecosystem. The Android system, which was not born for games, still has many bottlenecks to break through, which also leads to the current Android game consoles, whether in content or operation, always have some aspects that make users dissatisfied.

In essence, the Android handheld game consoles on the domestic market are nothing more than an Android tablet with a PSP appearance that cannot make calls, and the Android game consoles are nothing more than TV boxes that come with game controllers and other external devices, and repeatedly emphasize the "game" attribute on the system interface. As for the game resources that can determine the success or failure of a console, it is nothing more than re-adapting mobile games, changing the operation form and display mode, and then letting users experience it in a way similar to a game console. It seems that domestic game manufacturers obviously think that the requirements of domestic players are too simple.

Before breaking through bottlenecks such as game resources and operating experience, Android game consoles are more like a market behavior in which form is more important than content.

Of course, not all game consoles equipped with Android systems are without highlights. The SHEILD gaming mobile device launched by chip manufacturer NVIDIA is an Android game console with good performance. In the NVIDIA Tegra Zone game store, there are even exclusive game applications designed for gamepads that do not support touch operation, and its streaming function with PC games shows that Android is not the core of SHEILD devices in some functions.

Will domestic manufacturers pay so much attention to the game console itself? At least for now, there is not enough motivation for them to fully promote and improve the domestic gaming environment. Using Android is a shortcut, but over-reliance on Android will also become a barrier to the development of domestic game consoles.

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.