NVIDIA opted out of PlayStation 4, cites Sony not offering enough money
Having produced the graphics chips that powered both the original Xbox and the PlayStation 3, it was a surprise to see NVIDIA's name left out of Sony's big PlayStation 4 reveal event last month. But there was AMD, picking up the empty spot left by NVIDIA, powering the PS4 with its 8-core "Jaguar" CPU and Radeon GPU. So, what happened? While we don't know the specifics of how AMD won the contract, NVIDIA's senior VP of content and tech Tony Tamasi tells GameSpot that his company, "Didn't want to do the business at the price those guys [Sony] were willing to pay."
In so many words, Tamasi says NVIDIA weighed its options against other potential products the company would be working on -- rather than producing discreet tech for a single console manufacturer, thus being unable to use said tech elsewhere -- and decided against it. "We had to look at console business as an opportunity cost. If we say, did a console, what other piece of our business would we put on hold to chase after that?" he tells the game site.
NVIDIA is indeed working on a variety of new products, including an Android-powered Tegra 4 gaming handheld called Project Shield. That's in addition to its bread-and-butter business of PC GPU development -- the company recently unveiled its Titan GPU, a $1,000 card with enough power to keep your gaming graphics needs met for years to come (or at least we sure hope so at that price).
