OUYA Reportedly Backing Out Of Promised $1M Fund

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Now that OUYA has been bought by Razer, indie developers are claiming that the company is refusing to pay out money that is owed to them, citing a clause in the contract on restructuring. :(

"Claiming OUYA no longer exists as a company to get out of funding commitments, while continuing to use the name in the announcements today as if they still are a company that exists, just stinks," one developer told Polygon. "I think Razer will have trouble ahead if this is the level of respect they continue to show indie devs."
 
It just stinks... yeah it does, but the fact of the matter is Ouya the company does not exist any more, the new company bought the naming trademarks and all of that. Now I'm not sure if when a company is bought out the new company is held to all debt (assuming that's what this is) and/or contracts still needing to be fulfilled but simply arguing that a product named Ouya translates to the company is a bit of a stretch.
 
What teh article doesn't say is ALMOST worse:
Razer bought all of Ouya except that portion (some kind of holding company/wholly owned subsidiary I assume) that was in charge of the fund. THAT company will go bankrupt, which is where the contract clause come in to play, saying the payout doesn't happen if the company goes bankrupt or is insolvent.

This is just Kickstarter writ large: caveat emptor
 
After this fisaco why would anyone ever support it , let alone make a game for it?

To screw the devs that actually develop for it or release their games on it, well if you plan to actually use it for the future you're screwing yourself over too by doing that.
 
I have one that is sitting on my entertainment center unplugged now that I got a Raspberry Pi2 for my old school gaming console fix.
 
I'm still surprised it got so many backers... it never seemed that great to me. Sucks that it failed, because people got screwed, but........ well, it wasn't that great.
 
Modred189 said:
What teh article doesn't say is ALMOST worse:
Razer bought all of Ouya except that portion (some kind of holding company/wholly owned subsidiary I assume) that was in charge of the fund. THAT company will go bankrupt, which is where the contract clause come in to play, saying the payout doesn't happen if the company goes bankrupt or is insolvent.

This is just Kickstarter writ large: caveat emptor
Click to expand...


Sooo.. Ouya blew a lot of money on smart structuring. Razer saved by smart research but will now get the flack for this, deservedly so.
 
Never understood why this had any appeal to anyone. It was lame out of the gate.
 
And this is why you should read contracts and question anything that seem fishy.

About a decade ago there was an indy game publisher that had a clause in the contract that you were not allowed to discuss with any body not on the contract the terms of the contract including how much you were making per game sold. Disclosing any such information instantly dissolves the contract with you agreeing that no further financial transactions are required and they still retain the rights to distribute your game. So one way to look at that is don't tell your friends how much you are making otherwise you lose all money that you are owed anymore. However the problem came with they never paid you anything at all. So you wait and wait, they owe you a few grand.... but you can't go get a lawyer now because doing so would be talking about the contract and as such it becomes void and they don't owe you anything. So as soon as you signed that contract without a lawyer present to sign with you, you instantly screwed yourself where they could not pay you.

Kind of the same here, by signing this contract you agreed that if Ouya was to go bandrupt or no longer exist in the way that they did at that time that you agree to not be owed money anymore. Which tech companies are always being bought and sold so I wouldn't trust any of them to be independent forever. So you have to look to see how can I get fucked over by this contract if I sign on this line.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Now I'm not sure if when a company is bought out the new company is held to all debt (assuming that's what this is) and/or contracts still needing to be fulfilled but simply arguing that a product named Ouya translates to the company is a bit of a stretch.
Click to expand...
same tactic corporations use to shed pension obligations :(
 
I used my Ouya mostely as a media player, but When I heard Razer bought them, I just threw it out. Everything Razer touches turns to shit. And for Ouya that step wasn't very far in the first place.
 
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