Remember the Ouya? Yeah, it took me a few seconds to remember it too. It was only a short 2 years ago that the company made headlines for its massively successful Kickstarter campaign, only to see it flop. Well, to be fair, the Android-based micro-console market hasn’t been entirely successful yet either, with the only “success” possibly being Green Throttle being sold to Google.
Now that China has lifted its 13-year ban on consoles entering the country, Ouya could possibly find a way to come back up. Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman has told Reuters that the company has signed a deal with Xiaomi – China’s largest smartphone manufacturer, to bring its game to smart TV and set-top boxes.
Ouya Everywhere
Last month, Ouya started a new campaign dubbed, “Ouya Everywhere”, which allows compatible devices to offer an Ouya channel to deliver Ouya games. One of the first devices to provide this is the Mad Catz MOJO Android-based micro-console. With the partnership with Xiaomi, it is most likely that the Ouya games will be delivered via the Xiaomi MiTV and MiBox smart TV and set-top box platforms.
While China is the 3rd largest gaming market in the world, when it comes to consoles, they have only been playing on cable TV set-top boxes with limited functionalities. Although Microsoft is expected to launch later this fall, with Sony to follow, the playing field is still open, and with the partnership with Xiaomi, Ouya still has a pretty good chance to expand its market.
