Ouya pivots beyond hardware to a software platform

Ouya, the de facto microconsole standard bearer, recently disclosed that it's looking to move beyond hardware on into the virtual space.

This announcement came via CEO Julie Uhrman during an interview with [a]listdaily, where Uhrman spoke on Ouya's evolution and enhancements.

"One thing you'll start to see is Ouya on other people's devices," Uhrman said.

"For us, we'll always have a minimum set of standards so the games will work well on our device as well as others. It's the hardware plus an ecosystem. If you think about the traditional game consoles, they're custom hardware and custom chips. To get those games, you have to buy a box for hundreds of dollars."

"We've always wanted to open that up. We started with a $99 box, but we always wanted to create a console platform that can live on other people's devices.

"We just knew it was going to take us a little bit of time to get it ready. Now we think the software is good enough, it's ready to be embedded in other people's devices."

Uhrman's position is an interesting one, as the original Kickstarter concept of the Ouya was to provide Android gamers with a living room console experience for mobile games.

Now, with a bit of a sudden pivot, it appears that Ouya's prepared to take steps away from the hardware model and bring a 'virtual Ouya' to other devices, thus making Ouya-exclusive games playable on a suite of new hardware.

Uhrman didn't specify what these other devices might be, but she hinted that the virtual Ouya might make its appearance sooner rather than later.

"We actually started having some of these conversations during CES, and the takeup was so great that we're really jumping into the strategy with both feet this year."

[Source: [a]listdaily]