Could Google’s purchase of Bluetooth game controller maker signify interest in gaming?
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.