Why it matters: Ouya remains one of Kickstarter's most-funded campaigns ever with a haul of nearly $8.6 million from over 63,000 backers. It may have ultimately flopped but it was instrumental in the early success of Kickstarter and even helped to push mainstream and mobile gaming forward.
Razer has confirmed in a support document on its website that it will be shutting down the game stores for the Forge TV, Ouya console and MadCatz MOJO micro console on June 25, 2019.
The closure essentially spells the end of the road for Ouya, one of the most ambitious gaming products in recent memory.
The Android game console hit Kickstarter in mid-2012 and found immediate success. Powered by a Tegra 3 processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage, the system was supposed to bridge the gap between mobile and traditional console gaming. Unfortunately, it never found much success outside of the early adopter crowd.
Razer came knocking in 2015 with an undisclosed bundle of cash to scoop up Ouya's software and talent. Ouya co-founder and CEO, Julie Uhrman, did not join the team as part of the acquisition. The hardware itself was discontinued at that time although Razer elected to keep the game store on life support until now.
As for previously purchased games, Razer has the following to say:
You will be able to play games via the OUYA platform until June 25, 2019. Once it has been shut down, access to the Discover section will no longer be available. Games downloaded that appear in Play, may still function if they do not require a purchase validation upon launch. Contact the game developer for confirmation.
Translation - some games may still work after June 25, others won't.