Nvidia’s Shield range of micro-consoles, handhelds and tablets has done a fine job of getting company recognition in the gaming arena, and has paid off handsomely with the Nintendo Switch – a hybrid system with Nvidia’s Tegra technology at its heart.
Speaking to Venturebeat recently, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang covered a wide range of topics – including self-driving cars, the new Shield TV and the prospect of Nvidia becoming more entrenched in the notion of AI – as well as the forthcoming collaboration with Nintendo, and where it fits in with Nvidia’s wide ecosystem.
VB: Since you expanded the Shield TV with all these new features, do you have a border with the Nintendo Switch? Is there anything you’re not going to do, like more tablet work? Is there some way that the Switch fits in with the Shield TV ecosystem?
Huang: Nintendo Switch is a game console. It’s very Nintendo. That entire experience is going to be very Nintendo. The beauty of that company, the craft of that company, the philosophy of that company—they’re myopically, singularly focused on making sure that the gaming experience is amazing, surprising, and safe for young people, for children. Their dedication to their craft, that singular dedication, is quite admirable. When you guys all see Switch, I believe people are going to be blown away, quite frankly. It’s really delightful. But it has nothing to do with AI.
It’s no great surprise that Nvidia and Nintendo’s plans are very different with regards to their own products; Nvidia’s GeForce Now service is aiming to become the Netflix of games, and it’s unlikely that Nintendo would embrace such a concept on the Switch – despite it running Nvidia tech. Still, there’s something to be said for knowing your audience, and judging from Huang’s response, it seems that the Nintendo is well aware who it will be selling the console to.
