In July 2012, OUYA became the most successful Kickstarter in history, not only raising enough funding within a single day, but getting over 8 times its required $950,000 goal.
It was an exciting time, since new consoles were pretty unheard of three years ago. Now Android consoles are popping up left and right, but it's easy to see that OUYA spearheaded this movement. Hell, I was one of the original backers and still have my "Thank you for believing" sticker above our whiteboard.
But it turns out things didn't go so well for the company. According to Fortune.com, OUYA is apparently ready to be auctioned off, which was revealed in confidential emails from Julie Uhrman to investors and advisors. Uhrman states: “Given our debtholder’s timeline, the process will be quick. We are looking for expressions of interest by the end of this month.”
It's a pretty sad tale considering the company's wild success in the initial Kickstarter periods. Gaming companies even showed some great support for the system, with Square Enix releasing Final Fantasy III during the OUYA's launch.
However, after its launch, things looked immediately bleak. Developers were reporting horrible game sales, and Uhrman herself revealed that only a small percentage of OUYA owners actually pay money for full versions.
But despite the company's lack of success, Uhrman is quite proud of the amount of games and apps the OUYA has, stating that the OUYA has more Android content available for it than Amazon.
The only question that remains? Is OUYA worth saving? Let us know your thoughts.
