Ouya Kickstarter Closes With Over $8 Million Pledged

Ouya's thirty-day Kickstarter funding project closed today, smashing its original target of $950,000. For those of you who don't know, Ouya is a new open source console being launched. Ouya will feature many blockbuster titles, and is made "to get people playing games on their couches again". The funding campaign closed earlier this morning, successfully having received $8,596,475 worth of funding from 63,416 backers.

 

The console's quest for funding launched back on July 10th with a goal of $950,000. Within seven hours this goal had been beaten, giving it the title of most successful Kickstarter launch day ever.

Ouya founder and CEO Julie Urhman said, "It took us seven months to raise a little bit of investment from generous friends and family, and we raised the rest on Kickstarter in seven hours. We are just floored.The next 29 days are about raising the bar: how much can we change things? We're going to hang on tight for the ride!"

Although the Kickstarter is over, a number of developments in the last two weeks suggest that Ouya's ride isn't quite over yet. Square Enix became the first major publisher to support the console and will be releasing Final Fantasy III as a launch title, while also promising more content for the future. Also, cloud gaming service OnLive will be available on Ouya from launch, alongside Vevo content, the XBMC media player and digital radio service TuneIn. Mambo Bandai also revealed yesterday it is in "active discussions" to be the second major development company to support the console, bringing big titles such as Pac-Man, Galaga, Ridge Racer, and Tekken to the new console.

We discovered yesterday that the console will support up to four controllers for multiplayer games.The first exclusive title to be made for Ouya is a prequel to Robert Bowling's Human Element, which is currently in development.

The expected release date for Ouya is March 2013, so you can expect even more news and partnerships to materialize.