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B-OUYA! Guess who just got a $10 million investment from Alibaba?
Are we tired of making puns based around the silly name for the Kickstarter-funded, Android-powered, miniature game console, OUYA? No, friends. No we are not. Clearly. That aside, there's a whole nation of people who are just now hearing of OUYA for the first time: China. That's because Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba reportedly dropped $10 million into OUYA's coffers within the last month, according to The Wall Street Journal -- an investment in trade for bringing OUYA's platform to Alibaba's set-top box. That's quite an investment considering OUYA's poor-to-tepid response in the United States: "The system is rough around the edges in many ways, quite literally when regarding the controller, but the interface and menus also could use work," is what we wrote in our review from 2013. Much of those early edges were eventually smoothed, and OUYA branched out as a software platform known as "OUYA Everywhere." Xiaomi added OUYA everywhere to its set-top boxes last year, and now apparently Alibaba is looking to do something similar.
Next stop for Ouya Everywhere: China
Now that everyone from Google to Amazon is getting into the Android gaming set-top box business, Ouya is going to have to get creative. It's already announced plans for "Ouya Everywhere" to extend its sizable library of 900+ TV and game controller-ready games to other platforms, and now the company tells Reuters it's working out a deal with China's Xiaomi. CEO Julie Uhrmann says the arrangement will see an Ouya channel added to devices like the Mi TV and MiBox, where users can shop for and download games, and with Xiaomi "likely" committing to marketing the games. On the backend, Xiaomi, Ouya and the game's developers split the money. The $99 console has gone through a number of changes (both hardware and software) since it arrived on the scene as a Kickstarter hit, now we'll see if Asia can help provide a second wind for the platform.
OUYA Everywhere is bringing the Android game platform to other devices
OUYA has plans to level up in the near future, and it has nothing to do with a new console. In fact, it has nothing to do with any console at all, as the startup has confirmed to Engadget that its software/platform will soon extend to other devices, including set-top boxes and smart TVs. As you'd expect, the firm's keeping most details about the "Everywhere" initiative a secret at this point, but OUYA's slated to announce its first deal with a hardware manufacturer within the next two weeks. This development doesn't mean one of Kickstarter's biggest success stories is about to get out of the hardware business, though, as a rep told us "...there will always be OUYA hardware." The firm will push through with the annual refresh cycle it promised, though he couldn't share details about the next reference design. If you're crossing your fingers for a mobile release, though, we're sorry to say that won't be happening. At this point, we're told the Everywhere project has nothing to do with mobile, since "Julie [Uhrman] believes strongly that the most immersive way to game is with controller and screen."
