Earlier today, Razer confirmed that it has officially bought out Ouya, a company that kickstarted a $99 Android console.
Razer Acquired a Commanding Portion of Ouya on June 12
In June, Razer purchased a sizable amount of the company, including the content catalog, software assets, online store, and even the name. Interesting enough, the company didn’t purchase the console or the controller.
This is because Razer has plans to use the Ouya’s catalog of 1500 games, already optimized for Android TV, to help push Forge Tv, which is the company’s own Android TV variant.
“Android TV was already something we were interested in, or rather Android gaming in the living,” said Razer co-founder and CEO Min-Liang Tan.
Razer Aims to Take Over Your TV
Razer will be renaming Ouya’s technology and branding it as “Cortex for Android TV”. Previously, Ouya was a very closed platform, but Razer hopes to bring Cortex to other device makers in hopes of expanding the platform. The company also has plans to continue working with developers through Ouya’s game publishing business that will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary.
“Ouya was created with the goal to give developers more freedom. In doing this, we created the first open platform for television. And, with more than 1,000 games, we offered more content — and a broader variety — than any other platform,” said Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman.
What’s Next
Along with the buyout, Ouya’s current 15-person staff will be brought on board where they will most likely be continuing the work they were doing with Ouya.
Tan has stated that the company will continue to support Ouya’s hardware for the next 12 months, but will offer promotions and discounts in an effort to have users transition to Forge TV. In a statement confirming the purchase, Razer stated that the company has every intention in moving forward with developing the Forge TV micro-console, controllers, and software, as well as bringing new games to Android.
While it’s sad to see Ouya go, it is reassuring to know that Razer hopes to continue the legacy it left behind.
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