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The rise and fall of Ouya
Friday 1st May 2015 | Rhea
Assuming the obscure console had slipped under your radar, you might be interested in the fact that the one-time Kickstarter success is now on its last life and currently searching for a new owner. In a leaked confidential e-mail by CEO Julie Uhrman to Ouya investors, it was revealed that the company is trying to recover as much investor capital as possible. Despite receiving around £20m from both their hugely successful Kickstarter campaign and various investors, the company is still running into financial problems.
Labelled as ‘one of the year’s biggest disappointments', the Ouya had so much to offer in its early days. Something akin to being looked up to as a ‘console of the people’, they launched a program entitled ‘Free The Games Fund’ where Ouya supported indie game developers’ Kickstarter campaigns in exchange for console exclusivity. Controversy didn’t take long to rear its ugly head as some developers chose to abuse the system, cheating their way into eligibility for around $50,000 extra funding. Despite this, in early stages of its release some of the main critiques against the miniature Android powered console was about the sheer lack of games in its library. This, along with its painful lack of compatibility with the few existing games available (due to the rumoured questionable build quality of the controller), may have been the final nail in the coffin.
Boasting 1,000 apps and 40,000 developers, Ouya remains positive. “We believe we’ve built something real and valuable” insists Uhrman, “I continue to read tweets and emails of our fans who play OUYA every day”. Fingers crossed for the ambitious company’s bid to sell itself and let the Ouya continue on as The Little Indie Console That Could.
