Razer is in talks to buy OUYA, reports say (update)
The OUYA rollercoaster is preparing to make its final run, according to a report on CNET: Apparently, Razer is in talks to buy the company. Razer and OUYA are working on a deal and discussing how to fold OUYA's staff into Razer's, though nothing is finalized, the site says. OUYA, as you'll recall, raised $8.6 million on Kickstarter in 2012, pitching itself as an accessible, cheap, Android micro-console with a library of "free to try" games. When OUYA launched in July 2013, reviews critiqued its controller, game library and technical issues, and it simply never gained traction as a viable gaming system. In its first month, just 27 percent of OUYA owners had actually purchased a game and the console historically hasn't provided much revenue for developers.
In January, reports emerged that OUYA was making moves in China, with a potential $10 million sale to Alibaba. That report remains unconfirmed, but it looks unlikely after today's news of a potential Razer deal. We've reached out to Razer for comment.
Update: A Razer spokesperson offers the following (non-)comment about a potential OUYA deal: "Razer has always been supportive of OUYA and in particular their work toward building an open platform for Android gaming in the living room and the empowerment of developers, especially indie developers, all over the world. However, we do not comment on speculation or rumors."
