Android remains a big part of future gaming, but is NVIDIA’s Shield part of the future?

As the world prepares for the arrival of the XBOX One and Playstation 4, NVIDIA’s CEO reminds us that Android still has a role to play in the future of gaming. Speaking on an investor call, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang pointed at the company’s Shield gaming product as its means of growing the Android gaming ecosystem.

“Shield is our initiative to cultivate the gaming marketplace for Android,” Huang said, as quoted by ZDNet. “We believe that Android is going to be a very important platform for gaming in the future, and to do so we have to create devices that enable great gaming to happen on Android.”

Speaking to that tune, Huang called Android the “most versatile operating system that we’ve ever known.” NVIDIA hopes that the Shield, the small Android tablet connected to a game controller will continue to stare down the portable gaming hardware released by Nintendo and Sony. A recently released software update added more functionality for the device to run games via larger screens including televisions, making it something more in lines with standard living room gaming machines. NVIDIA obviously hopes that it can push developers to build gaming experiences designed specifically for its Tegra platform.

With Qualcomm seemingly dominant in the mobile space, Huang’s comments about Android and gaming may be correct, but the question remains whether or not the Shield is the right product to capitalize Android and its gaming future.

via ZDNet