The Android-based gaming console, Ouya, will debut a couple weeks after it was scheduled, according to the Washington Post. Ouya Company Executive Julie Uhrman said in a company blog post the $99 device would be released June 25 instead of its prior release date in early June. The company wants to keep up with the high rate of demand the console has generated.
However, any consumers who placed a pre-order as an early backer will receive their console by the end of May.
The console prompted a significant buzz after it raised $8.5 million on Kickstarter in July 2012. There has been talk that it could challenge the three giants—Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. Its existence on the Android platform allows developers and home hackers to customize the device anyway they want.
The console, which requires no physical disc, already has the backing of big-name game studios like Square Enix, the maker of the popular “Final Fantasy” series.
According to Uhrman, Ouya has already generated $15 million in funding from investors such as Kleiner Kleiner Perkins Caufield &Byers.
Early feedback for the gaming console was harsh. Upon receiving the consoles in March, early backers said the Ouya still felt like it was in its very early stages and did not live up to its potential. Urhma told Fortune magazine this was expected and there was not “a single piece of feedback from those reviews that we didn’t already have on our to-do list.”
According to Urhma, the early responses led to some improvements such as a new design for the controller.
With the Electronic Entertainment Expo approaching in June, gamers could see a major shift in the industry. Ouya may be the start of a movement that could affect them in the near future. From the new Xbox—scheduled to be revealed May 21—to speculation surrounding the end of the physical disc, the gaming world has quite a bit to anticipate.
