Leaked emails from Ouya's CEO, Julie Uhrman, reveal that the video game maker has fallen deeply into debt with one of its investors. The company is now desperately seeking investment to stay afloat, and the best way to get there is by selling the company.
"Given our debtholder's timeline, the process will be quick," Uhrman allegedly stated. "We are looking for expressions of interest by the end of this month."
We understand the email was sent back in early April, so if by now the company has not yet found a buyer, we have to wonder if it is capable of continuing on for long. It would be a real shame because Ouya showed promise; it just didn't get the support it needed outside the blogsphere.
According to Fortune, an investment back called Mesa Global has been brought on to manage the situation until a buyer has been located. We suspect that since Ouya has been a far cry from being a success story, the team might find it difficult to convince anyone at this point to throw their money on such a business.
This doesn't mean Ouya can't become successful with new leadership, but at the moment, the name is stained with failure, and chances are it would need a new product and a whole new vision to return to market refreshed.
Probably the best place Ouya can hope to find success is in China, Japan and other parts of Asia. The mobile gaming initiative is booming in those markets, so there is hope yet.
Ouya made a splash back in 2012, when its Kickstarter campaign garnered over $8.5 million in just a month. It later managed to gain $10 million funding from Alibaba, so right away, one gets to realize that Ouya has potential but just needs the right person at the helm to guide ship in the right direction.
Clearly, CEO Julie Uhrman is not the correct person for the job.
We can only wish the best for Ouya as the days go by.
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Photo: pcutler | Flickr
