The current console market is dominated entirely by AMD- they are, after all, the chipmaker who provide the hardware that powers the Xbox One, the PS4, and the Wii U. Nvidia, by contrast, have never done well with the console market- the original Xbox was based on their hardware, but things got ugly between them and Microsoft, leading to Microsoft being forced to rush out the Xbox 360 ahead of time (fun fact- the rushed schedule as a result was what caused the RRoD fiasco).
Meanwhile, with Sony, Nvidia was involved with the PS3, leading to one of the most infamously difficult consoles of all time to work with. And with Nintendo, Nvidia were involved in the early stages of the Nintendo 3DS, a deal that fell apart, leading to Nintendo going with their current, custom design.
In short, Nvidia don’t have the best track record with consoles, and they haven’t exactly endeared themselves in any of the Big Three’s books- and yet, it seems as though for the Nintendo NX, Nintendo may be making a clean break from AMD, who have powered all of their consoles since the Gamecube, and partnering with Nvidia instead.
According to NeoGAF poster NateDrake, Nintendo insider Emily Rogers has confirmed that Nvidia is involved with the future of the NX in some way- this was as specific as she would get, so it’s hard to extrapolate any more information from the statement. But if this is true, then it would be interesting to see how Nvidia will partner with Nintendo on the new system- especially since the latest rumors peg the NX to be a rather weak machine, and Nvidia is traditionally all about providing the highest end performance possible.
