Almost seven years ago, a new Android-based game console called Ouya gained quite a bit of interest and, during the course of its Kickstart campaign, raised just shy of $8.6 million. The console started shipping to backers at the end of March 2013 before later hitting retail channels in June the same year. In fact, Ouya was so popular that it sold out in big name stores such as Target and Amazon.
Since then, though, Ouya fell on hard times when it failed to attract and retain ongoing developer interest until Razer acquired Ouya's software assets as well as its technical and developer relations teams in July 2015 as part of an all-cash deal. With about 200,000 Ouya users, Razer envisaged bring these users over to its own Forge TV console.
However, the fate for both platforms seems to be well and truly sealed, with Razer having announced that it will be shutting down the Ouya and Forge TV game stores in addition to the MadCatz MOJO game store on June 25, 2019. While hardware will continue to work after this date, Razer has encouraged users to download their games before this date to retain access provided they do not require purchase validation. It's not all bad news, though, as Forge TV and MadCatz MOJO users can turn to the Google Play store as an alternative while the Ouya requires rooting to add that capability.
While Ouya started out with grand ambitions, it failed to come anywhere near unseating the stalwarts of the video gaming landscape which has seen a resurgent Nintendo come back to the fore with its Switch console that has managed to surpass lifetime sales of the GameCube and Wii U.
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