Oyua has confirmed its new owner, Razer. Can it help Android consoles make a successful comeback?

Since Google developed the Android system, it has achieved outstanding results in various fields, among which mobile devices are the most developed. As a part of the entertainment system, the addition of Android to game consoles has also caused a lot of waves in this seemingly calm industry.

However, facing the deep-rooted traditional game consoles, the development of Android consoles is not as good as everyone imagined. Although Huang's Nvidia Shield TV is favored by domestic players, its international sales are slightly average.

Recently, Razer announced the acquisition of Oyua, which immediately caused a lot of speculation. Faced with Oyua, which has changed hands many times, how many chances does the unpopular and unpopular Android console have to make a comeback?

Oyua game machine road twists and turns

Oyua may not be very familiar to domestic players, but it is indeed a company with a good reputation in the game console industry.

As one of the first companies to offer an Android game console, Oyua attracted a lot of attention with its then-popular Android game console. In 2013, it completed a crowdfunding campaign of several million dollars, received $15 million in investment from top Silicon Valley investors, and received 25,000 pre-orders.

Julie Ullman, the founder of Oyua, which aims to create low-priced games, is also confident about her own game consoles and said, The Oyua isn't meant to be a console, but rather for games played on a TV.

However, the reality was not as expected. After the release of the $99 Oyua console, it was a flop due to the poor console experience, system errors and poor control. This also made foreign manufacturers lose interest in Android consoles. Although they had more than 1,000 games, they were forced to turn to investors due to the low performance of the machines.

Android consoles were favored from the beginning in the domestic game console market, which had just been lifted from the ban. As a pioneer in Android consoles, Oyua, even though it had a low reputation, had a large amount of resources that were indispensable to the development of domestic games. As a result, Xiaomi, Alibaba and other major investors in TV games extended a helping hand to Oyua, which was in trouble, and invested in domestic Android consoles.

The ideal is beautiful, but the reality is cruel. Oyua game consoles not only failed to challenge the height of traditional game consoles, but also were not as cheap as TV boxes, and Android mobile devices also squeezed Oyua's living space. The setting of being neither high nor low, shrinking living space, and inadequate technology forced Oyua to declare bankruptcy. Even Alibaba's $10 million investment could not save it from failure.

This makes Oyua a hot potato. Faced with the Android host, which looks good but is a "cake" that is hard to swallow, Razer has resolutely made an acquisition. It is no longer an investment, but a direct merger. However, due to the lessons learned from Alibaba and Xiaomi, many people are not optimistic about this acquisition.

What is Razer planning by acquiring Oyua?

Previously, Xiaomi and Alibaba each made strategic investments in Oyua, hoping to use Oyua's experience in Android consoles to bring about changes to domestic Android consoles and open up the domestic game console market, but ultimately ended in failure.

However, Razer believes that Android consoles do have a good future for development. The reason why Oyua failed is due to the lack of hardware technology, but Razer itself can make up for this shortcoming with its advantage of strong hardware.

Although there are disadvantages, there are also advantages. This is Razer's view on Oyua. One of the reasons for the slow rise of Android consoles in China is that the quality of games cannot reach the level of consoles, which makes it impossible for many players to truly experience the benefits of Android game consoles.

However, Oyua has an online resource store with more than 1,000 games, and the games in it are not comparable to the casual games in many TV boxes now. There are not only Android games, but also many PC games that play well on Android consoles. In view of this, Razer believes that Oyua's resources combined with its own hardware technology will definitely trigger an Android console storm in the living room field.

Although this is just Razer's expectation, facing the newly acquired Oyua, perhaps Razer will transfer this hot potato to someone else soon. Or maybe Razer will really revitalize Oyua and make Android the next direction of game consoles. Faced with such a big bet, whether Razer will win or lose depends on what it does next.

How should Android hosts develop in the country?

Since Xbox 360, the gaming industry has undergone tremendous changes. The changes in control methods and the increase in the number of functions of game consoles have fundamentally changed the traditional consoles. The failure of Oyua Android does not mean that Android consoles are bad. It can only be said that although it has grasped the source of development, it has not grasped the key points.

Why are the three traditional console manufacturers still able to survive?

The PS series focuses on core game users, and has firmly grasped the core gamer market with the powerful hardware performance of the PS console and the high-quality games provided by many manufacturers. Xbox is centered on games, and has explored the available value of the console in a scattered manner. It not only has games, but also includes sports events, music and other content, creating a family interactive entertainment system. Although Nintendo's Wii and other game consoles have not been very popular in recent years, they are themed on family fun and take their own games as the starting point, occupying a considerable position among children and fanatics.

Faced with the deeply rooted traditional consoles, it is indeed very difficult for Android game consoles to join the ranks. Oyua has also been defeated in overseas competitions. This only shows that the overseas market is not very friendly to Android consoles at this stage, but it does not mean that there is no future for development.

In today's China, there is a shortage of console games and plagiarism is rampant in smart TV games. Manufacturers capable of making games are taking a wait-and-see attitude towards Android consoles. Oyua, which has a large number of independent game works, is very suitable for this place. In addition to independent works that can make up for the lack of experience brought by ported works, Oyua can also fill some gaps in the game market that was lost due to the lifting of the ban.

With the help of Razer, Android game consoles may no longer be like the TV boxes that "skirted the edge" in the Alibaba era, but more professional, high-quality and low-cost gaming devices designed for players. As an open source system, Android is used by many devices, and its compatibility cannot be underestimated. Strictly speaking, Android system can also produce games that meet the "next generation" meaning. The advancement of graphics processing technology, hardware upgrades, and engine updates have all provided considerable help to the development of Android games.

But compatibility does not mean porting. Since players can play the same games on other platforms, why should they spend money to buy Android consoles? Relying on hardware like Huang's Nvidia Shield TV is only one-sided. Only by providing exclusive and original games for the console can the development of Android consoles in China enter a good cycle.

Razer's acquisition of Oyua has made Oyua founder Julie Ullman say that Razer will definitely make the new Ouya better than the PS5. But whether the Android console can achieve Razer's vision remains to be considered.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.