Ouya was the little console that could back on kickstarter raising over 8 million dollars to give people the ability to play games directed at smartphones on their televisions and monitors. For some, at least 63k people, this sounded innovative… For others it sounded a bit unnecessary.
No matter who was right, Ouya has definitely rendered itself unnecessary with its “Ouya Everywhere Initiative” that will allow you to play Ouya games and use the Ouya software on Android capable devices. That’s right, the program lets you play Android smartphone games on your Android smartphone – alright that’s me being a bit cynical, but aside from their first hardware announcement we could expect to see the software on tablets, hybrid TVs and other devices.
Ouya did have a rival, for some reason, Mad Catz M.O.J.O. console which also aimed to bring Android games to a home console. The M.O.J.O., marked down to $199 with this announcement, was originally marked at the cost of $249.99 because why not? I’d like to point out you could buy an Android and a cellphone plan for about that much, with the added difference on the M.O.J.O. you don’t get to make phone calls, take pictures, or anything else smartphones are additionally capable of besides just playing games. Rival Ouya was also marked at $99.
Today however Ouya announced their first Ouya Everywhere Partner which would be: Mad Catz M.O.J.O. They’re essentially just handing over their app to their only market rival, which simultaneously renders the Ouya console useless and turns the Ouya into a new digital delivery platform.
From the official M.O.J.O. Site:
March 6, 2014 – Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. (“Mad Catz”) (NYSE MKT/ TSX: MCZ) and OUYA announced today a content agreement to bring OUYA® to the Mad Catz M.O.J.O.™ Micro-Console™ for Android™. In addition, the price of M.O.J.O. will be reduced to an MSRP of $199.99 in the United States with similar price adjustments taking place in all major territories.
Now the press release also claims up until this point “the game console experience has been locked inside a box” which is only half true where Android apps are involved, and transferring it to another console still keeps it ‘locked inside a box.’ It is worth noting Ouya does boast some exclusive content, which was one thing it might have had going for it before making itself very unexclusive. Mad Catz stock shares also jumped 13% with this partnership announcement. Ouya has also announced it intends to keep making hardware.
Despite the “good” this announcement brings I can’t help but feel this is a move on both Ouya’s and Mad Catz’s part to rescue a platform that may not have been the best idea to begin with. Though at least I’ll no longer have to worry about buying an Ouya if I want to play a candy crush clone.
