Despite his previous consoles being repeatedly shut down, "Crank That" rapper Soulja Boy reportedly plans to release another Soulja gaming console with "all new games." But based on Soulja Boy's previous endeavors in gaming, it's unclear if this console will be a legitimate entry into the industry or just an emulator knock-off of popular gaming hardware.
This crossover between the music and gaming industries was something no one anticipated years ago when Soulja Boy first announced the SouljaGame console in 2018, but gaming has been a large part of Soulja Boy's life. He's even found ways to incorporate his love for video games into his mixtapes, such as when he sampled Legend of Zelda in his single "Zelda." But as it turned out, the SouljaGame was just rebranded emulator hardware at extremely marked-up prices compared to what can be found on sites like Amazon.
Apparently, Soulja Boy is back at it with more ideas. A Twitter account called Soulja Game Console (@SouljaGame) was created sometime this month with the first tweet reading "Soulja Game coming soon...." This series of tweets all went up on February 13. The second one was asking fans to tag companies for SouljaGame to partner with, and the final one said a new console was being built "from scratch, all new design. All new games. All new deals."
Previously, because Soulja Boy's console claimed to have thousands of Nintendo and Sega games preloaded onto the system, he was hit with threats of lawsuits from Nintendo. A number of other versions of SouljaGame consoles, such as the SouljaGame Fuze and Retro SouljaBoy Mini also cropped up, though many design mockups look suspiciously similar to Xbox One controllers and PS Vitas. The SouljaGame website was eventually seized by Nintendo, and the conundrum over the legal threats slowly died off.
But who really knows what the rapper is up to? A couple of days ago, Soulja Boy tweeted Tony Hawk about an idea he has for a video game. However, it doesn't look like Tell 'Em got a response, or at least, not publicly. But this means that there's at least a possibility of Soulja Boy making his own game deal, if not his own original console. Though the former is more likely to lead to a partnership with a developer or studio.
Based on the previous SouljaGame track record, Soulja Boy's gaming endeavors likely won't come to any kind of fruition, though with his large fanbase, it would be interesting to see what he comes up with creatively. But with PlayStations, Xboxes, Switches, and gaming PCs dominating the market, it's hard to imagine any other original consoles stepping into the limelight.