Ouya Purchased by Razer!

retro junkie

retro junkie

Joined Feb 2007
2K Posts | 0+
Kentucky, US
I own a Ouya. I saw the announcement this week that Razer purchased all the software and development and did not want the hardware. They are going to use it for their Forge TV system. I am glad they are interested in bringing over all of the Ouya people to Forge TV. A promise of discounts and bargains to lure the Ouya people, all 200,000 of us, to the Forge TV. Can't wait to see what kind of bait they will be offering. :D If I understand right, the Forge TV is capable of running Steam?

http://techcrunch.com/2015/07/27/razer-confirms-ouya-acquisition/
 
Wow! I didn't know about that. :eek: I wonder how something like that would play out when someone else purchases the business.
 
Yeah, this is huge. I don't know how Razer would not be liable for their debts as well unless they somehow negotiated something or Ouya flat out didn't say anything. It's pretty shady all around.
 
I'm curious to see what they actually do with it. How do you like your Ouya? I always hear less than stellar things but I'd like to hear something from someone I know that actually has one.


Admittedly I'm still chuckling at Razer over what happened to them at EVO this month so I'm not too eager to get anything from them.
 
So Razer ended up doing the right thing and are going to pay the devs the money owed by Ouya. Which comes up to $620,000!!!!

Ouch. They also said they never knew about this debt so it sounds like Ouya was not being very honest on this deal. Well, I guess that's why they're not around anymore. Good on Razer though.

Razer says it will honor payment promises made to Ouya’s indie devs

Snatcher_L said:
Admittedly I'm still chuckling at Razer over what happened to them at EVO this month so I'm not too eager to get anything from them.
Click to expand...

:lol I saw that live and man was that fail spectacular. They'll bounce back though. Unless their products fail in the MOBA tournaments, I don't see this hurting them for too long.
 
Snatcher_L said:
I'm curious to see what they actually do with it. How do you like your Ouya? I always hear less than stellar things but I'd like to hear something from someone I know that actually has one.

First you must understand me. I love simple retro gaming. Games that have that arcade feel. I started my gaming on a Commodore 64, also referred to as "chicken lips." On the C64 there was a lot of homebrew gaming. Love those times and enjoyed that type of gaming. With that in mind,

The Ouya allowed everyone and their Grandma to make games for that little system. The quality of the games depended heavily on the talents, time spent, and skills, of the programmer or programmers, whichever the case may be. The result is a mixed hodgepodge kaleidoscope big bag of odd, and good, games. A lot of good stuff, good concepts, and ideas to be found in that bag. And lot of it reminds me of those early Commodore 64, Atari ST, days. Graphics can be anything that looks like Atari 2600 to PS1, maybe close to PS2. Don't know, toss up. Gameplay falls into the same mixed bag, controls can be tight or floaty.

I think the disappointment, and bad press, is from the fact that, I don't think anyone let the phrase, "smart phone gaming on your TV," sink into their thick skull. Everyone was expecting a PS4 in a little box.

I love the thing. It is right up my alley. I got my R-Type, Raiden, Contra, Shmups fix. All I have to do is turn on my Ouya.


Admittedly I'm still chuckling at Razer over what happened to them at EVO this month so I'm not too eager to get anything from them.
Click to expand...

The only thing that Razer wanted from this deal is a load of games for their Forge TV system. It was either buy out the Ouya and have instant library of games or depend on Google play.

CreepinDeth said:
So Razer ended up doing the right thing and are going to pay the devs the money owed by Ouya. Which comes up to $620,000!!!!

Ouch. They also said they never knew about this debt so it sounds like Ouya was not being very honest on this deal. Well, I guess that's why they're not around anymore. Good on Razer though.
Click to expand...

Wow! That is great. I think that will work in their favor with those developers possiblity looking to put their games on the Forge TV.
 
Another fire tv, Apple tv, steam machine, Roku, esque device that's prolly too late. By now it seems everyone is committed to one of the big threes ecosystem of interconnecting devices (apple, Amazon, or google) with google really being the only one with an option of choosing your own device. Once you're not shopping for apps from one of them your options dwindle to nothing. Your casual customer will Prolly only have one of the three with your hardcore gamer adding something capable of steam. I don't see where the market is for Razer. They'd have to have some serious juice to pull off a success and devices integrating with each other is so important and really Razer has nothing else to accompany. Not to mention the current oya game library has a hit or two and a hand full of marginals.
 
I think the "fire TV, Roku, Apple TV" technology is just an in-between temporary need in the market as technology evolves into something common, like Smart TV. As people begin replacing their older models for newer sets, smart TVs, you'll see the market for these devises dwindle. Especially if this becomes a standard feature. My next TV will probably be a Roku TV. I will no longer need that little black box.

The Ouya was there for a very limited niche market, 200,000 of us. A very small group. That is hardly big enough for Razer to put any high hopes on. I think (hopefully) they may see that as they are planning to open the games up to smart phones, tablets, and such. (That could sink their own forge tv.) Good thing they have other products to earn their living.

I do think you are right targetrasp. The market has been saturated at this point. It is sort-of like the video gaming market. The consumer will only support just so many players.
 
The set-top box will never die, it will just mutate into something that aligns with the times. The reason Smart TVs won't replace them is because they become outdated almost immediately. Mostly because it's up to the TV manufacturers to keep them up to date, but when they already have new models coming out almost every 6 months, they immediately stop caring about the older models. They also become obsolete because the processors they use are so low power that even a tablet can outdo it. Which means games will just surpass the hardware and you're stuck with the same games. Unfortunately, Retro, we're a very small minority. People want the latest and greatest and Smart TVs don't keep up with that demand. Set-top boxes and consoles will continue to be the way to play games and watch streaming TV.

Saturation is not just the only problem, it's trying to entice gamers that care a lot about high quality graphics. It's not something I would bank on if I was Razer but something to supplement my current gaming portfolio.
 
A Roku TV is a TV set with the Roku box built in. It is much better than a smart TV. You have an instant access to channels that are being updated by Roku. The two hundred channels I enjoy now on my Roku, I would immediately be able to transfer that to my Roku TV. There is no need for the little box when everything is built in.

That little box would probably mutate into technology that streams games. Might look more like Sony's Blu-ray player that streams Playstation Now games. The player looks to be only around $70 at your local Walmart.
 
Right and hopefully that would catch on but in the end you still can't update the hardware without buying a new television. With Roku that should alleviate most of the software problems but you're still left with aging hardware.

Not to mention, they're not going to be in every television and there are people out there who care more about the quality of the picture than the functionality. They'll more likely just coexist like they do now.
 
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