Ouya has not been performing as much as the company hoped it would be. It reported put itself up for sale in April, although there have been no takers. That is until now, reports indicate that gaming system and peripheral maker Razer is interested in picking up the company.
The Ouya console was originally funded on Kickstarter, and raised some US$8.6 million (about RM32 million) from the crowdsourcing site. It’s goal of bridging the gap between mobile and living room console gaming was welcomed by many, but the lack of triple A games hurt sales. While the console itself was sold for a relatively cheap US$99 (about RM370), it failed to capture enough of the market.
Earlier reports surfaced that Ouya was in talks to sell itself to Alibaba, and would be making its way to China in deal potentially worth US$10 million (about RM37 million). However, this latest news would indicate that the Alibaba deal was either just a rumour or the two companies could not reach an agreement.
Razer, on the other hand, has been doing well with capturing the imagination of gamers. The company recently announced the Razer Forge TV at CES 2015, which would have put it in direct competition with the Ouya. The Razer Forge TV is another Android powered console for the living room, although it also takes advantage of other Razer peripherals.
The reports of the deal between Razer and Ouya indicates that the two companies are trying to figure out how to absorb Ouya’s staff into Razer’s structure. However, Razer itself has declined to say anything about a potential purchase of Ouya.
