Razer has finalized talks to purchase fledgling Android microconsole company Ouya, to the detriment of indies they sought to support.
Both Ouya’s former CEO, Julie Uhrman, and Razer have confirmed the acquisition. Notably, Razer chose to purchase everything except the hardware itself. Instead, they are getting the company’s technical and developer relations teams, for the sole purpose of bolstering their own Android microconsole, the Forge TV, as well as their gaming platform, Cortex.
Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan confirmed most Ouya investors cashed out. A notable exception is Alibaba, who invested $ 10 million into the company to save it, and will now be working closely with Razer.
This is the clear end of the line for Ouya itself as a platform. Tan says they will continue to support Ouya users for 12 months, but they will be integrating Ouya’s games, controllers and accounts to Cortex TV, with the Ouya store in the hardware itself to be relaunched as Cortex for Android TV. Tan will also offer special deals for Ouya owners to migrate, including freebies, giveaways, and promotions.
Ouya users may be surprised by the news, but they weren’t neglected. Instead, indie devs who signed up for Ouya’s Free The Games Fund program, have been lost in the shuffle. Some of these devs, under cover of anonymity, have revealed that Ouya will no longer be honoring their end of said initiative.
Under FTGF, devs who were able to raise $ 100,000 via crowdfunding would get that amount matched by Ouya so they could complete development. The devs even say Ouya informed them of these changes via Skype phone calls, making it clear that they did not want an email record that they communicated this.
Thankfully, several of the games on the Free The Games Fund program, including Catlateral Damage, Dex, and Neverending Nightmares, have finished development and been released. However, there are also projects, like Lobodestroyo, that are still in the works. Developer Left Handed Game Studio have themselves confirmed they will be adversely affected by the news.
Ouya bought by Razer. Acquisition to affect Lobo. More info in our next backer update. http://t.co/IAANNYMLnR
— Lobodestroyo (@lobodestroyo) July 27, 2015
Notably, That Dragon, Cancer was not part of Free The Games Fund, but also received partial funding from Ouya directly. This game raised $104,491 via Kickstarter, and it remains in development.
Do you have any information regarding the Ouya acquisition, or how it has affected the devs they were working with? Please contact me at ryanparreno@gameranx.com.
