Developing Winning Accessories for Today's Gaming Market

The quest for faster, richer and more interactive gaming experiences never ends.

Several trends are driving continued growth in the gaming market. Advances in cloud technology and streaming for both AAA and indie games, digital distribution and increased diversity have expanded the universe of cloud-based multiplayer gaming and even professional Esports competitions. Social media has contributed to growth in mobile gaming, providing a popular virtual platform which allows convenient access anywhere and anytime. Lastly, the introduction of cross-platform play enables avid gamers using different hardware to play with each other simultaneously.

Gaming accessories, from AR/VR headsets to wireless gamepads, have also kept pace with the latest technology innovations. Whether you’re a casual gamer who enjoys playing with friends, or a top gun competing in Esports, you need a variety of gaming accessories to enhance your enjoyment and performance. And if you want a truly interactive gaming experience, acquiring accessories based on the latest processing, wireless, audio and video technologies is important.

Decisions and Requirements for Today's Accessories

When it comes to designing gaming accessory products, developers face tradeoffs between performance and power, features and cost, wired and wireless connectivity, enablement tools and time to market. How do you balance the competing needs of optimum dynamic power range versus the least amount of static power leakage? How can you deliver the best possible performance and the longest battery life without compromising on accessory features or driving up end product price points?.

NXP has provided enabling processor and wireless technology for gaming accessories since the early days of home and handheld console platforms pioneered by key gaming console makers and other leading names in the global gaming market. Today, NXP’s scalable EdgeVerse^™ computing portfolio  addresses a broad range of gaming accessory requirements with purpose-built system-on-chip (SoC) platforms. These solutions offer a combination of high performance, low power, increased levels of integration and enhanced security, backed by a comprehensive development ecosystem geared to streamline product design and speed time to market.

Covering All the Bases

Developers require a wide array of processor, wireless connectivity, USB, audio, video and power management technologies to create gaming accessories that meet the diverse needs of today’s players and their desktop, mobile and cloud-based platforms.

NXP’s comprehensive edge computing portfolio extends across general-purpose MCUs , i.MX RT crossover MCUs and i.MX applications processors. These processing platforms cover diverse accessory design possibilities with a range of multicore architectures based on Arm^® Cortex^®-M and A class cores, hardware accelerators, co-processors, on-chip USB controllers, multimedia interfaces and rich peripheral sets. Additional wireless SoCs and ICs support a wide array of connectivity options including Bluetooth^® Low Energy (BLE), Wi-Fi^®, ultra-wideband (UWB), near field communication (NFC), and MiGLO^® technology with near field magnetic induction (NFMI).

Optimal Performance at Low Power

• Multi-core architectures that provide new dimensions in balancing workload and efficiency
• Ultra-low-power Cortex-M0+ and Cortex-M33 cores offering power consumption as low as 32uA/Mhz in very low power mode and 1.96uA in deep sleep mode with SRAM and RTC retention

Highly Integrated Solutions to Reduce Design Complexity and Cost

• Built-in audio features, voice capabilities and integrated digital signal processing (DSP) for voice control and speech communications
• BLE low power design with rich peripheral integration and in-house BLE stack
• Parallel and MIPI CSI/DSI interfaces for low-power, low-cost applications

Built-in Security Enabling Easy Implementation

• Secure boot, unique key storage, and cryptographic hardware acceleration for symmetric and asymmetric key infrastructures
• EDGELOCK^® ASSURANCE product offering that meets industry standards and security certifications
• Remote over the air (OTA) firmware updates across wired and wireless products

Learn More About NXP’s Gaming Accessory Solutions and Support

NXP offers a variety of support options to best suit your gaming accessory design needs. Our comprehensive hardware and software solutions, connectivity stacks, evaluation kits, reference designs, documentation, engineering services, and community can help you streamline the development process and accelerate time to market. For more information, visit www.nxp.com/gaming.