Now that local interest in Ouya's experiment in console gaming has sufficiently waned, the company is moving past its bite-sized console and instead is working on bringing its library of over 900 games to the growing Chinese game market with the help of electronics giant Xiaomi, Reuters reported.
According to the report, Ouya will be given a channel to sell games on Xiaomi's "MiTV" smart TV and "MiBox" set-top box by the end of the year. The profits made from the games' sales will be split among Xiaomi, Ouya and the games' developers. Xiaomi will also likely contribute to sales by actively marketing Ouya's games, Ouya head Julie Uhrman told Reuters.
"For the likes of Xiaomi's MiTV, its set-top boxes and other Android set-top boxes that are entering the market, this could be a turning point in bringing great content and developers to gamers and into a region that they have never had access to before," Uhrman told Reuters.
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Xiaomi is the top smartphone company in China – recently pulling ahead global giants like Apple and Samsung – and is even the fifth largest smartphone maker in the world despite being founded only four years ago. The company sells their phones at a low cost – almost at the cost of the materials – and turns a profit by keeping phones out on the market for longer. It also sells its growing line of electronics solely from their website, allowing the still young company to compete with established tech companies in terms of pricing.
It's hard to tell how well Ouya will fare in China and if reaching out to this new market could be the company's saving grace. In the meantime, though, we can at least watch Xiaomi's founder and CEO Lei Jun take the Ice Bucket Challenge.
