Last week, Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard had heads around the industry spinning thinking of the consequences the buyout would have on the video game industry at large. Consolidation can be a frightening thing as it seems the doors have been blown open thanks to the Bethesda and Activision purchases, meaning any company is now fair game for an acquisition. However, events like these tend to spur competition, and now a new player may be planning to enter the ring in the form of Apple. According to one insider, Apple is making moves to enter the gaming space with its own dedicated console.
Windows Central Reporter Jez Corden recently appeared on an episode of The Xbox Two podcast where he confirmed that he's been hearing some mumblings about Apple creating its own console. Apparently, the company has been "poaching" engineers from the Xbox side to help get the console specifications laid out. Corden insists this rumor has been floating around for a while and that his sources aren't exactly the best, but he believes the rumors are strong enough that a console is certainly something Apple is currently developing.
Corden says he has heard different rumors about the apparent video game console from Apple but isn't exactly sure if the console will be VR-oriented or if it will include VR at all. He also says that he's heard the console could have some sort of metaverse implementation as well. Corden claims that Apple explores a ton of different ideas and doesn't know if this console will ever come to fruition or if Apple has canceled it already. When asked who else would want to compete with Apple and other console makers such as Microsoft, Corden replied that he believes the only company that would maybe want to go toe-to-toe would be Chinese tech giant Tencent.
A gaming console from Apple would indeed be interesting to see, but the timing would be strange as Apple could have entered this industry a long time ago, so why now? In any case, if any console were to arise from Apple don't expect a traditional console in the vein of a PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, or Nintendo Switch, as it would likely be something that was digital-only and took advantage of VR, as well as have some metaverse implementation.
Rumors of an Apple console could also be heating up after Microsoft made waves with its newest acquisition. As mentioned previously, these kinds of events spur competition which is always a good thing as gamers reap the biggest rewards from companies trying to one-up each other. If an Apple console comes to fruition it will be interesting to see how it would be received in today's slightly overcrowded market.