AMD thinks it can get back into the portable console business, and is hinting at a new deal with Nintendo involving its 3DS.
The vice president of AMD’s custom semiconductor business Saeid Moshkelani noted that AMD was doing rather well in consoles. It was providing the graphics processors for the Wii U, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.
However, portable consoles, such as the 3DS and PS Vita use other processors and AMD wants a piece of that action.
Of course, he admits, that market appears to be drying up but he said that “believe it or not” the 3DS is still selling.’
He said that before AMD could invest any time on a project it would have to be worth at least $100 million annual revenue for us to go for it.
He said that no Android console has made anything like that amount of money and it is extremely hard to imagine Sony producing another handheld console after the PS Vita, which leaves Nintendo – who have confirmed they definitely are making another portable.
Nintendo has said that whatever their next handheld is it will share the same operating system as their next home console and therefore the same games and apps.
Though there are various models, Android does not face software shortages because there is one common way of programming on the Android platform that works with various models.
It is not clear if AMD actually has Nintendo in the bag as a customer, but the fact Moshkelani is talking about it makes it a good bet.
