Ouya Receives $15 Million From New Investors

[StewShearerOld]

Ouya Receives $15 Million From New Investors

Ouya has received millions from new investors and added a new member to its board of directors.

The Ouya has had more than a few skeptics since its journey began. The promise of a modern $99 game console seemed too good to be true for many to believe. Others however had no qualms about supporting the project, helping Ouya's Kickstarter campaign raise almost $9 million in money, <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118982-Ouya-Kickstarter-Ends-with-900-of-Goal-Raised>nearly 900% of its initial goal.

The subsequent road to release hasn't been without trials. Some were disappointed to learn that Ouya wouldn't be launching with <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122658-Ouya-Will-Launch-Without-Community-Features>promised community features and, just recently, its makers were forced to <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123864-Ouya-Pushes-Launch-Back-Three-Weeks>delay the release of the Android-based console to allow more time for production. All of this said, the Ouya is still well on its way to a launch some doubted we'd ever see and now, a new injection of funding may help it reach even futher than its makers had ever imagined possible.

Ouya has revealed that the company recently received $15 million in new funding. The money comes from several big investors including Mayfield Fund, NVIDIA, Shasta Ventures, Occam Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. KPCB is particularly notable on account of it being the same firm that originally backed Electronic Arts. Bing Gordon, a general partner at KPCB, will also be joining Ouya's board of directors. Gordon's also serves as a board member for Amazon, Klout, Lockerz, MEVIO, Zazzle and Zynga and worked as an executive at EA during its formative years.

While few specifics were offered on what the new funds would be used for, the official Ouya blog offered some vague insights. "We've got additional resources to to make OUYA everything it can be," said Ouya founder Julie Uhrman. "It means that we can increase production to meet our demand and continue to support game developers who are building innovative and exclusive games for OUYA." With more than <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123425-Ouya-Now-Boasts-10-000-Developers>10,000 developers apparently working on games for Ouya, there are probably more than a few who would happily accept the kind of support that $15 million can bring.

Source: <a href=http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/05/09/ouya-gets-15-million-in-new-funding.aspx>Game Informer


Permalink

 

[Albino Boo]

Congratulations people who contributed to the Ouya you have given nearly 9 million dollars of your money to venture capitalists and major corporations. Why bother to take any risks with your money when you can get the public to give you free money.
Captcha : rum do
yes captcha a rum do indeed

 

[Zombie_Moogle]

I find it fascinating that despite the ever-increasing prospects & success of the Ouya start-up, the detractors are no less excited to spew hate in it's direction

Remember when the hoards were telling us that 9mil wasn't even close to enough money to produce a new console?
Outside funding rolls in & now they're sellouts

 

[flarty]

15 million should be enough to fix the controller issues wont it?

 

[Entitled]

Congratulations people who contributed to the Ouya you have given nearly 9 million dollars of your money to venture capitalists and major corporations. Why bother to take any risks with your money when you can get the public to give you free money.

And of course, by "free money" you mean "payment for the promised delivery of a physical product".

Oh, those dirty venture capitalists and major corporations! How spectacularly they ripped people off by manufacturing them a machine that they paid for!

 

[CTYR]

Well, if this is the case, Ouya developers, I expect a lot from you. As do many people.
Seriously, if they screw this up, with all the money flowing their way and all the backers they have, Ouya's developers will be roasted atop a rusty pike.

 

[Albino Boo]

Congratulations people who contributed to the Ouya you have given nearly 9 million dollars of your money to venture capitalists and major corporations. Why bother to take any risks with your money when you can get the public to give you free money.

And of course, by "free money" you mean "payment for the promised delivery of a physical product".

Oh, those dirty venture capitalists and major corporations! How spectacularly they ripped people off by manufacturing them a machine that they paid for!

Uh, it's not exactly "free money" if the people who backed it got an Ouya dude.

You didn't pay for a product you paid for product that might be developed. There was no guarantee that the product would be delivered. The consumer took the risk that is normally taken by venture capitalists and major corporations for which they may get a share of the profits from the sale of the product. In case of kickstater the risk is taken by consumer but the consumer does not get any share in the profits hence my comment about giving free money.

 

[Entitled]

You didn't pay for a product you paid for product that might be developed. There was no guarantee that the product would be delivered.

Yeah, and when you buy stuff from Amazon, there is no guarantee that they will deliver it. Sure, there is legal guarantee, in the form of a legally binding contract, just as there is in this case, but the organization might always turn out to be a huge scam, after all, or they might go bankrupt just as you are ordering.

Except that it is exactly "major corporations" that have a reputation for not being illegal scams, therefore they are more likely to deliver. If you are so worried about the "risk" of not getting a product, you should be more worried about indies with no other source of budget using Kickstarter, than about "major corporations".

 

[Albino Boo]

You didn't pay for a product you paid for product that might be developed. There was no guarantee that the product would be delivered.

Yeah, and when you buy stuff from Amazon, there is no guarantee that they will deliver it. Sure, there is legal guarantee, in the form of a legally binding contract, just as there is in this case, but the organization might always turn out to be a huge scam, after all, or they might go bankrupt just as you are ordering.

Except that it is exactly "major corporations" that have a reputation for not being illegal scams, therefore they are more likely to deliver. If you are so worried about the "risk" of not getting a product, you should be more worried about indies with no other source of budget using Kickstarter, than about "major corporations".

You can't buy on amazon something that does not exist and you have legal rights under consumer law with kickstarter you do not have any consumer rights.

Furthermore the risk is not being assumed by the major corporations the risk has already been taken by the consumer by giving the $9 million. In the case of kickstarter there is legally binding contract to attempt to produce the end item not a legally binding contract to deliver the said item. That means your money is at risk in way that is not is you purely buy something. If the kickstarter runs out of money, runs up against technical difficulty or loses a patent challenge you have no legal redress against the company that is running the kickstarter. This is because you are taking the risk in the same way that major corporations, banks and venture capitalists do accept they get a return on their money. Why is a major corporation that puts up $9 million of its money entitled to share of profits and 90000 people putting up $99 not worth a share in profits? My money is not of inferior quality to that of major corporation, yet if I contribute to a kickstarter I get no return.

 

[Entitled]

You can't buy on amazon something that does not exist and you have legal rights under consumer law with kickstarter you do not have any consumer rights.

"Consumer rights" are just a set of specific regulations of selling practices, like advertisement regulations. Kickstarter is not a store, but you don't need any special consumer protection for the basic right to sue people for promising stuff for your money, and then not delivering it.

Under most legal systems, ALL contracts are enforceable in civil law under the principle of "Pacta sunt servanda", that is, agreements must be kept. I could walk up to you on the street and say "hey, I'll give you a PS4 in a year, if you give me $200 now", and if you accept it, that would be a legally enforceable contract of sale. Making a written contract, or getting eyewitnesses, might be useful for you to prove your demands if necessary, but in either case, I can't just ignore it on the account that I'm not a store therefore you don't have "consumer rights" against me.

In the case of kickstarter there is legally binding contract to attempt to produce the end item not a legally binding contract to deliver the said item.

Wrong. Kickstarter's Terms of Use make you sign this [https://ksr-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/creator-responsibility.png], before launching a project. You are not required to "attempt to produce" something, you are "required to fulfill all rewards" or refund backers.

If you had a pitch appear on kickstarter, you haven't promised your backers to "try" making a product, you have promised to make a product. And if you fail to do so, you are just as accountable as anyne else who sold his labor and failed to deliver.

There are plenty of contract types where people are paying for something that is not done yet, that doesn't make a significant difference in the legal sense.

Oh, by the way, there already is legal precedent for Kickstarter backers winning in court against a failed project, that was forced to file for bankrupcy:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/831303939/hanfree-ipad-accessory-use-the-ipad-hands-free/comments

"The court has entered default judgment against Seth Quest in favor of myself and my co-plaintiff Chris Thompson. Seth now has a judgment against him in an amount reflecting both of our Hanfree unit purchases, and our court costs and expenses, plus interest. The judgment was signed by the court on August 22, 2012 and mailed this past Friday."

 

[MetalMagpie]

Bing Gordon is a man with an impressive CV that can't quite distract from his hilarious name.