Ouya is the company behind the hackable, Android-based $99 console which witnessed an immensely successful Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign in 2012. A troubled launch and stagnant left the Ouya as nothing to be excited about.
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Yesterday, gaming peripheral maker Razer Inc announced that it would be buying the software assets to the Ouya microconsole, but despite that deal it looks like Ouya Inc will be unable to fulfill some of its financial obligations. Those Android game developers who had taken the company up on its “Free The Games” funding offer for extra development money in exchange for timed exclusivity to the Ouya platform, and who hadn’t yet been paid, got stung by a “bankruptcy or buyout” clause in the contract.
Android’s Ouya video game console startup has been acquired by Razer, according to reports by Tech Times.
The Forge TV micro console will compete with Nvidia Shield Android TV console, which has more than 50 Android games that were optimized by Shield at launch. Despite the commercial failure of the OUYA console, it made large strides in bringing android games to the living room, both with its work with Indie developers as well as AAA developers. The Razer Forge TV ecosystem is based on an open platform. In exchange, the developers will give away games to users of Razer Cortex, the company’s price comparison engine/game optimization/streaming software. Razer seems to be looking at Ouya’s tech as a way to help boost its own struggling micro console, the Forge TV. These indie studios have been told not to expect the rest of their promised funds now that Razer purchased Ouya, Inc. “I’m certain that he has clever ideas on how to make his many initiatives with Forge TV fit well with all the titles and hard work that OUYA put in”. He admits that despite the superb quality of their games, what they lack is a top-level hardware that can seamlessly integrate their games into the Android TV gaming world.
“Razer definitely stepped up for that part of the conversation and also insisted that we talk with them mostly on the phone”, the developer told IGN. TechCrunch notes that OUYA is still selling gaming consoles and digital credits online.
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There are things like the Chrome TV and the Amazon Fire TV, but most hardcore gamers want a powerful unit to play the latest and greatest games.
