Gameloft has brought Nickelodeon's cartoon crossover to the court. Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis: Next!, developed by Old Skull Games, has launched on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and PC, priced at $29.99, and the publisher marked the occasion with a launch trailer packed with frantic, character-powered rallies. It is an expanded console-and-PC take on the arcade tennis game that originally found its audience on iOS and Android.
The pitch is straightforward, family-friendly and unapologetically chaotic: pick from a 15-strong roster of Nickelodeon icons and serve up arcade tennis with special abilities and signature flair. The lineup pulls from across the network's history, with SpongeBob SquarePants, Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, CatDog, Garfield and the Rugrats crew all confirmed, each given their own personality, abilities and style on the court.
Built out well beyond the mobile original
This is not a straight port. Old Skull Games has rebuilt the experience for living-room play, adding new courts, new modes, new options and refined controls aimed at solo, co-op and online players. The headline addition for the console crowd is local split-screen multiplayer - the kind of couch competition the mobile version could never properly deliver - sitting alongside a story mode, a stack of mini-games and a tournament mode for players who want a structured climb.
A budget-priced pick-up-and-play crossover
At $29.99 across all four platforms, Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis: Next! is positioned squarely as an accessible, all-ages party game rather than a sim - closer in spirit to Mario Tennis than to anything in the Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl mould. Character customization lets players tweak their favourites, and the accessible, pick-up-and-play controls are clearly aimed at getting a room full of mixed-skill players rallying within minutes.
For Gameloft, the launch is also a statement of intent: the company has been visibly expanding its console and PC publishing slate, and bringing one of its licensed mobile properties to the big screen is part of that push. Whether Extreme Tennis: Next! has the depth to keep competitive players around is an open question, but as a colourful, low-cost crossover for families and Nickelodeon fans, it lands today on every major platform at once.
