CEO says refund coming to Ouya's Kickstarter backers, but only in store credit

It was almost a year ago today that the Ouya console's kickstarter campaign came to a close, smashing records, and raising over $8 million in funding.

Traditionally, those backers who contributed that immense figure were supposed to be the first to receive their console, originally scheduled to ship in March to those who donated $95 or more. Slowly but surely, the consoles trickled out to various backers, but by the time the console hit store shelves in June, and quickly sold out at retailers like Best Buy, Target, and others, some backers still had yet to receive their Ouyas. Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman apologized, citing third party distribution partner in Hong Kong as the reason for their delay. 

Obviously, apologies can only do so much, which is why Uhrman is telling said Kickstarter supporters that they can request a store credit of $13.37 from the console's Discover store.

Uhrman sent out an e-mail to backers late last week, acknowledging late shipments and delayed customer support responses, offering up the credit as a way of an apology.

Uhrman wrote:
"To our beloved backers, It's been 11 months and 26 days (360 days for those who prefer a more exact count) since we left the gates of Kickstarter and set out to turn our vision into a reality. It wasn't OK that some of you-our most loyal supporters-didn't get your OUYA until after it was on store shelves. Others had an issue with our still-new customer service. Despite your frustrations, you've played on, putting up with our bumps and bugs as we work to get better every day. That being the case, we want to do more than tell you how much we appreciate you-we want to show it. If you feel you've had any kind of less-than-OUYA experience with us (a polite way of saying at any time you felt pissed at us for whatever the reason: late shipment, missing controllers, a delayed response to a CS ticket you opened), we'd like to give you a store credit of $13.37 to use toward any purchase(s) on DISCOVER. If you are annoyed with us, we hope this is a first step to winning back your <3. And for those loving on us, love on. We've learned a lot over the past year and we're going to continue making Ouya better every day!"

$13.37 seems like a relativly random number, and why Uhrman settled on that isn't known. Available titles on the Ouya range in price from free, but tend to hover around the $5 mark. Do you think Uhrman is offering enough to make up for the delays backers have had to deal with?

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