Could We Expect A Watch As A Viable Gaming Platform?

We know how silly this question might sound on its face, but hear us out: could the like of the new Google Pixel Watch 2 ever find a place as a gaming platform? It’s crazy to think of, but from the right perspective, there’s potential here for at least some forms of gaming. Gaming on a watch won’t even match the likes of the current cutting-edge gaming generation, but such a humble device is capable of more than first meets the eye.

Managing Expectations

There is only so much that a watch can do based on its size. More processing power requires more transistors, more transistors mean more space, heat, and power, and this creates a problem. While miniaturization has driven technology forward so far that smartwatches are possible, there are limits, and it’s not magic.

Moore’s Law originally stated that the number of transistors in integrated circuits would double every two years. While this applied for decades, limits in silicon workability eventually met a plateau, meaning the concept doesn’t hold as it once did. In other words, it’s unrealistic to expect a modern console or gaming PC’s power to reach a watch, but we don’t need it to.

The Road Traveled

We’ve come so far in the landscape of technology that we often forget to look back and remember the road traveled. The tech we take for granted today would have been unimaginable a few decades ago, and it’s in this overlooked gradual progress that we could find opportunities to explore gaming.

According to the specs sheet, a Google Pixel Watch 2 has 2 GB of RAM and a 32 GB storage drive. It features a Qualcomm SW5100 processor, Wi-Fi 802.11, and Bluetooth 5.0 compatibility. What does this mean for performance? Let’s take a step back.

When it originally launched in 1994, the PlayStation 1 featured a total of 3MB of usable RAM. That’s not gigabytes, that’s megabytes. From this perspective alone, the Google Pixel Watch 2 has more than 650 times the RAM of the PS1. The PS1 also had no internal storage, no Wi-Fi compatibility, no Bluetooth support, and a processor many times slower than the Pixel Watch 2.

Possible Gaming Opportunities

To consider how the Pixel Watch 2 might work, we need to see it as a host machine, through which other platforms might connect. Take the example of the online casino gaming market, which is built on low-demand (from a processing standpoint) entertainment. Browsing websites for bonuses like deposit matches and free spins, signing up, and playing games is possible even on humble mobile phones, and the same could be true for a properly equipped watch. Connect through wireless and Bluetooth and you can play these games on a TV with a mouse and keyboard, at least in theory.

The same could be said for emulation on systems like the PS1 since the power difference is so immense. You would again need to rely on connecting to other systems like a screen and a controller, but the technology here already exists. It’s a matter of going through the effort, and better support being offered by developers.

If all of this seems like science fiction, it should be noted that these approaches have been accomplished before on smartwatch systems. It’s not taken especially seriously, but the potential exists, and it’s only growing stronger with each generation. For those interested, you could find an unexpected new home in low-demand gaming and retro emulation on a platform even more convenient than your phone. As for what comes next, that’s up to us.