An Android-powered videogame console is on the way.

Google broke into the game industry a few years ago with their Android phone operating system and the fully-stocked app store it supports. Now, according to insider sources gathered by reporters at the Wall Street Journal, the company is looking to move further into that industry.

The expansion isn’t aimed solely at becoming a player in the console gaming industry, which has been dominated by the “big 3” gaming companies–Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft–for over a decade now. Google almost certainly understands that breaking into the console market is going to be a significant challenge. Microsoft, after all, was the last successful entrant into that fray, launching their original Xbox console in 2001 against the Nintendo Gamecube and the Sony Playstation 2. However, Google wants to move beyond the mobile world with Android, and considering the gaming foundation that Android already has on smartphones and tablets, an expansion into hardcore gaming markets is one of the more natural paths of evolution available to the company.

A wristwatch powered by Android is also reportedly in the works.

Google can’t be faulted for wanting to build on the success of their Android brand. In the first quarter of 2013, the operating system was by far the most widespread software in the mobile market, gracing 75% of smartphones and 57% of tablets. Where Apple has built their reputation in the mobile industry by only allowing their operating system, iOS, to be used on iPad, iPod, and iPhone products, Google has focused on getting Android on virtually every other smartphone on the market. And with three-quarters of that market more or less conquered, it’s time for the company to explore new frontiers.

Gaming is the natural option: consumers spent $24.9 billion on console games in 2012 alone, and since the vast majority of the console game market is split between three players, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are undoubtedly seeing a large percentage of that figure. Google wants a few of those billions for themselves, and if the company is going to make a grab for the console market, striking before Apple comes up with a similar idea is certainly a good business plan.

According to the Wall Street Journal‘s anonymous sources, Apple was a major impetus behind Google’s decision to enter the console world. Industry analysts have been speculating that Apple could be in the planning stages of a gaming console of their own to be bundled with the Apple TV.

More news might be on the way from Google and Android in the next few months. The company is currently in the final stages of development for the next version of the operating system, which is expected to hit phones and tablets this fall. Reports indicate that Android-powered laptops are also on the way, to coincide with the new software release.