Nvidia and Nintendo both stand at an interesting crossroads in their respective businesses at the moment. Neither company is struggling financially, but both have failed in the console space in different ways. As brands, Nvidia and Nintendo both maintain standards of quality that set them apart from the competition, and I think there could be an interesting relationship brewing between the two. This could be a relationship that benefits them both mutually, and gives each what it needs in order to succeed in the coming non-generation of consoles and console upgrades.
Nintendo, for its part, is looking to recapture its command of the casual console gamer demographic. The Wii U was (and still is) a wonderful console, but no one knew about it. No one understood what it was or why they should care. The ultra-casual gamers already owned Wiis and they believed that the Wii U was some kind of accessory or add-on that they didn’t need. The more knowledgeable and hardcore gamers found it hard to justify spending hundreds of dollars on hardware that couldn’t even perform as well as last generation’s offerings from Sony and Microsoft. Nintendo likes to be different, but the Wii U was different for all of the wrong reasons, and the numbers indicate as much.
Nvidia has also discovered how hostile the console space can be for newcomers and blue ocean strategists. Its Shield line was a pretty great idea, in theory. Between the handheld, tablet, and table-top Android TV unit, Nvidia was attempting to corner the market on premium portable gaming. Nvidia envisioned gamers taking current-gen, HD games on the go, and then switching the display over to the big-screen when they got home. It was to be a seamless HD gaming experience, but it never took off.
Now let’s see: a portable gaming device that can be paired with a home unit to play your games on the big screen as well… Does that sound familiar? Does that remind you have any recent Nintendo rumors that have been making the rounds? I find it very curious that Nvidia recently announced that the successor to its Shield Tablet K1 is no longer in the works – “for business reasons.” For anyone looking for evidence or corroboration to support Eurogamer’s leak that Nintendo’s NX would be sporting a mobile SOC (system on a chip) from Nvidia, I think this is pretty conclusive.
Think about it: Nvidia and Nintendo would both be getting exactly what they want out of this partnership. For Nvidia it means relevancy in the console space and a partnership with one of the biggest names in gaming that could extend well into the next generation. AMD’s silicon is generally much more affordable, and that’s why it’s been favored in pretty much every console the past few generations. Nvidia and AMD go toe-to-toe in the PC space, and a firm handshake with Nintendo will ensure Nvidia has a foothold for the future of major console and handheld production as well.
Nintendo, on the other hand, is getting exactly the technology it needs to bring its vision to fruition. Nintendo’s handhelds have always excelled, and its consoles have always sold phenomenally (the Wii U excepted). It’s about to make a bold move to combine those platforms into one revolutionary machine, and Nvidia will be providing industry-leading technology to make that happen. HD gaming on the go and on the big screen, at last.
What’s more, I know for a fact that the Shield Tablet’s graphics chip was capable of Nvidia “Shadowplay,” which captures or streams gameplay straight from the device itself – think something similar to the PS4 “Share” button. Whatever chip is in the NX, we can count on it being vastly more powerful than what we saw in Nvidia’s tablet back in 2014. That means that it could potentially be capable of capturing gameplay natively, or streaming it on the fly. I’d love to see a more connected, more social Nintendo platform, and Nvidia’s technology could make that dream come true as well.
So what do you guys think? For the past two generations Nintendo has opted for older, cheaper components in its consoles, but I think we may see something very cutting-edge in the NX. This sounds like the perfect win-win for Nvidia and Nintendo both, but I know there are still skeptics out there. What sounds plausible to you, and if we do see a powerful new chip from Nvidia in the NX, what are you hoping it’s capable of? Sound off in the comments!