Chinese tech giant Tencent is apparently planning to launch its own handheld gaming console, going by a patent spotted recently. Tencent happens to have got the exclusive right to distribute the Nintendo Switch in China and it launched the handheld console in China on December 4, 2019.
According to the Qicha app, Tencent
Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. obtained approval for a patent titled “Game
Console” on March 19. The patent application was filed in October 2020 bearing
the publication number CN306392452S.
The product image clearly shows it will be
a portable handheld device. It adopts a classic design similar to the Nintendo
Switch handheld console but there are some marked differences between Tencent’s
and the popular Nintendo Switch.
Thus, the patent fuels speculations that
Tencent may be planning to enter the game console industry on its own. Tencent
has always been a major player in the industry but focuses more on gaming
software. In recent times, the brand entered into a partnership with gaming
phone brands like ASUS ROG, Red Magic, and Black Shark to launch gaming phones.
The console itself looks like what is
designed to be played as a standalone and connected to a Windows PC. There is
what looks like the Win10 logo on one of the buttons at the left button of the
handheld console. Also, the rear aspect has the text inscribed “PC Console” and
“For PC Console gamer”. Thus, the console may appear as a Win-based handheld.
In other respects, the game console also
uses a Type-C interface and has collapsible support at the rear.
