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It seems we can’t go more than a week without hearing about Google purchasing up more companies (not that that’s a bad thing, of course). The latest acquisition by the tech giant in Mountain View seems to be Green Throttle Games, with Google confirming to PandoDaily that the purchase was made a short while ago.
So who are they? Green Throttle Games is a small company responsible for a pair of Bluetooth gaming controllers that can be used with any device that is HID-controller compliant. The company also maintained an app called Arena that highlighted many of the games that could be used with their controllers, though the company curiously ended support for Arena back in November.
Terms of the deal weren’t fully disclosed, however we do know Google took a particular interest in the company’s parts and labor sector, and brought along the project’s co-founders for some exciting new venture. The question: what new venture could that turn out to be?
There are a few different things Google could be thinking about doing here:
- We could be seeing the company come up with a games console of their own, ala OUYA. Perhaps they could even plan to introduce a set-top box with gaming capabilities using some evolved form of Google TV. While Google hasn’t expressed much interest in that area to date, you never know what they could be thinking or talking about behind closed doors.
- The Nexus TV could still be alive, and we could see Google using these controllers to bring a gaming and smart TV experience into one package.
- Google could simply be looking to get a better understanding of HID controllers in order to make them easily compatible with Android at the core.
All eyes will definitely be on Google leading up to this year’s Game Developers’ Conference, which will be kicking off next week. We will certainly be looking on to see if Google (or any other big companies rumored to be entering the gaming arena) has anything to announce.
Forget the cord in that drawing. A controller, your phone and an updated Chromecast is what I see in play here.
That would make sense.
I think the new Android tv n google play games will aim to provide a better gaming experience. lets just hope it has a chip like the new tegra with 192 cores i believe right? it suppose to provide console like graphics. that would be awesome!
The latency would be far too much for anything but casual games.
Yes, the billion dollar business of casual games.
Point being that it wouldn’t be competitive with a console, which is what the article is talking about.
I agree with you ( and the article ) on that but I think there’s money to be made getting Candy Crush and Angry Birds up on the biggest screen folks own. I think Nintendo has made some missteps lately and if Googs can get into the living room for around $85 retail, that’s hard to pass up.
Roku says, “people choose us for our remote controller”.
There’s your reason.
Roku says: Man see Roku with Remote. Man use remote to see Roku.
I already have a MOGA Pro Power controller, so too late for me. For a _slimmer_ controller I suggest the Hero Power controller. For me though it’s great for playing the plethora of emulated classic console/arcade games. Works well with new non-touch games too.
“Could Google’s purchase of Bluetooth game controller maker signify interest in gaming?”
Here’s a better headline:
Does Google even care bbout the Bluetooth issues plauging Android 4.4.2, because right now I can’t even pair my Bluetooth controller with my Nexus 5, yet it pairs with my Nexus 10 just fine.