If we time travel back to August 2012, Ouya was the talk of the town in the gaming industry. Its record-setting Kickstarter campaign raised over $8 million, and it looked like the world’s first openly hackable games machine would soon become a real retail product. That did happen of course, but not without a slew of difficulties. Early Kickstarter backers received their systems late, the hardware’s content library failed to catch the eye of consumers, and game development campaigns even dealt with serious legal issues.
Given such struggle, Re/code reports that the entire Ouya company is seeking potential buyers. Rumors indicate that most of the talks include those with Chinese companies Xiaomi and Tencent, but Amazon and Google have supposedly been involved in the conversation out West. Sources indicate that an acquisition of Ouya would be more beneficial on a staff basis rather than for the product itself. For example Google might use Ouya’s employees to design a microconsole for them, and Amazon could leverage Ouya to contribute to its Amazon Fire TV set top box business. China just lifted its ban on game consoles, so Ouya might be a good way to rekindle game development interest in that part of the world.
The move to sell Ouya comes after several recent attempts to spike consumer interest in the product. The entire Ouya games library has become available on Mad Catz devices, and developers no longer need to make their games free to try either. There’s even a $60 season pass promotion that allows owners to experiment with a large library of games at once. Alas, all of these maneuvers have failed to create buzz, and Ouya looks to be headed for stormy waters.
Who do you think is worthy of buying Ouya? Will gamers live happily in a potential world without Ouya? Tell me your thoughts in the comments section!