Ouya still owes game developers money as part of its Free the Games Fund

Two years ago, Ouya started the Free the Games Fund, a program meant to bring more games to the Android-based microconsole.

Now, in the wake of Ouya’s purchase by Razer, it’s come to light that money from the Fund has yet to be paid out to developers.

Moreover, it appears that Razer won’t be bound to pay out developers, thanks to a bankruptcy clause added to the Free the Games Fund contract earlier this year. Motherboard reports that the new section, titled “8.3. Termination Upon Bankruptcy or Insolvency”, was added so that Ouya could end its commitments to developers if it became insolvent.

IGN cites an annonymous developer who alleged that Razer informed them in mid-July that they would not be receiving the $30,000 USD offered up as part of the Free the Games Fund.

“Razer definitely stepped up for that part of the conversation and also insisted that we talk with them mostly on the phone,” the developer said. “This makes me think that they might not want any of this written down.”

“As far as the effect on development, the most important thing is that the Free The Games fund money covered the cost of OUYA development. Had they pulled out of the deal earlier, we could have refocused on development for mobile devices, or our other planned consoles, and had them ready for our first launch.

“Because of OUYA’s six-month exclusivity period, these platforms were put on the back burner, so we aren’t even able to make up for the loss in predicted income by launching on additional platforms,” the developer continued.

Despite the legalities, Razer, speaking with Polygon, confirmed that it will indeed pay said developers.

“What we want to do is make sure we support indie developers,” Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan said. “Razer will be backing the new Ouya publishing arm. So we are going to try and make good on this fund and give these developers an option.”