The hype surrounding the OUYA game system seems to have settled down quite a bit. Of course, that isn’t to say the OUYA team has been slacking. To that point, the “Abominable Snowman” update pushed in the later months of 2013 and brought quite a few key changes and improvements. But moving forward, it seems the OUYA team is going to be down one member.
That team member is Muffi Ghadiali, who just so happens to also have been a founding member. Looking back, Ghadiali was not only a part of the Kickstarter launch, but also went on to lead several teams during his time with OUYA. Talk here points towards Ghadiali as having been a part of the team responsible for the industrial and product design of the hardware.
The news of his departure was confirmed by way of a statement provided to TechCrunch. Ghadiali was described as being “invaluable during the launch of OUYA” but otherwise, the statement touched on the future. It was said the OUYA team has made some recent staffing changes, but they are “focusing more on the next phase of the business and product development.”
They also went on to mention how “OUYA is an ever-changing business, and as we continue to grow our needs shift accordingly.” OUYA didn’t address anything more specific, however the talk has naturally gone to poor performance. But in an effort to stay on the positive side, we cannot overlook the next phase of business and product development bit of the statement.
Otherwise, the OUYA game console remains available and currently sits priced at $99. OUYA is also selling extra controllers for $40, controller faceplates for $9.99 and a “Couch Gamer Bundle” for $219.95. That bundle pack includes an OUYA game system, four controllers and a $10 free game credit.
This ship has been sinking for some time, I can see why he left. Ouya has not been received well and the fact that it doesn’t access the Play Market was a huge blow to the system. Lack of exclusives doesn’t help and to make it worse games that were exclusive are now making their way to other systems (See: Towerfall), the hardware was obsolete before it hit the market and there’s way to much competition from other Android consoles that do what Ouya does but better (though less refined) and it was already bumping heads with HTPC’s and other Android tablets that also allow HDMI output.
R.I.P Ouya, the little Android console that could have!
I got one this past Christmas, and I have to say it is actually a lot of fun. But a lot of these games I can’t see myself purchasing simply because they are one-off, very quick titles. Emulation is its saving grace, though – Dreamcast even runs on it! It’s great to have an ARM-based Android console always hooked up to my TV.