Ouya burst out of crowdfunding back in 2013 with bundles of promise. But its momentum seemingly fizzled out over the following few years, and not a lot has been heard about the Android micro-console until now. And the news is not good unfortunately as Ouya Inc., the company behind it, seeks to save itself from debt.
The company had recently been required to depend on investor support and a lending agency which quietly put $15-million into backing Ouya. This despite a successful run on Kickstarter where the idea gained $8.5-million in public support and within a few short years the pioneering product was put out on the shelves of high street and online stores worldwide.
Also See: Gaming Weekly – Ouya Special
Retailers stocking the Ouya included GAME in the UK and the micro-console enjoyed its fair share of popularity thanks to its sub £100 price tag, casual gaming nature and access to massive range of app-based titles, many of which players were already familiar with on their smartphones and tablets. The Ouya’s main appeal was that these games could now be played on a TV screen. It was a gimmick that seemed to have a solid future and was soon imitated by a number of rival manufacturers.
It’s sad to see one of the great prospects of recent years and a really decent product, that we ourselves have enjoyed, hit such lows but CEO Uhrman remains positive and later in her email she says:
“We believe we’ve built something real and valuable. I continue to read the tweets and emails of our fans who play OUYA every day, and our catalog is now over 1,000 apps and 40,000 developers. We have the largest library of Android content for the TV (still more than Amazon) — hells ya!”