Oomba

Oomba, Inc., or Oomba, was a software startup company that was creating a cloud-based social network which allows users to operate and play in tournaments of any kind. Based in Irvine, California, the company was founded by Michael Williams (CEO, founder of Planetwide Games and Tremor Entertainment), and Nolan Bushnell (founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese).[2]

Oomba, Inc.
Privately held company
IndustrySoftware
GenreSocial Media
FateSuspended
FoundedIrvine, California, U.S. (2012)
FounderMichael Williams and Nolan Bushnell
DefunctMay 28, 2018 (2018-05-28)
HeadquartersIrvine, California, U.S.
Key people
Michael Williams (CEO)
Dylan Hundley (Founder)
ProductsOomba App, Oomba.tv
OwnerMichael Williams
Number of employees
11-50[1]

History

The company was founded in 2012 when CEO Michael Williams changed course from a previous project surrounding digital currency for games to software for tournament organization.[3] With support from Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, the cofounders rounded up investment support from various sources, including SOSventures, Private Capital Network, and Paua Ventures.[2] In 2013, the business was incorporated and they launched their livestreaming site Oomba.tv with deals to host Supercross, Speed Golfing, and Boxing footage.

Oomba announced they have partnered with Mayfair Games and Cryptozoic Entertainment and will launch their platform during Gen Con 2014. They will be using their software to run several Mayfair and Cryptozoic tournaments, as well as make an official record attempt at the Guinness World Record for largest tournament of Rock, Paper, Scissors while there.[4][5][6] On August 17, 2014 Oomba set the record at 2,950 participants.[7] The website was launched into private beta at the end of Gen Con.[8]

In 2017, Oomba's TV production arm, OombaTV launched a national tournament series, Unrivaled, with over 250 participating stores and culminating in a Grand Finals in Las Vegas on October 27 – 29[9] The tournament featured 6 games:

The broadcast was live streamed to the company's website and was available for viewing on Youtube[10]

In October of 2017, the company acquired Chatsworth-based GameWorks Entertainment LLC, an entertainment and gaming venues company for $17M. This was done with a $25M loan from ExWorks Capital, a chicago-based lending firm[11]

In June of 2018, Michael Williams and Nolan Bushnell left Oomba and ExWorks Capital took ownership of GameWorks.[12]

Products

Oomba is creating a mobile app and website to serve three major functions: tournament organization, webcasting, and social networking. The software records permanent results of events participated in, and allows users to create multiple identities or profiles to engage with different groups and/or games separately.[3] The software will automatically organize tournaments for any game a user inputs rules for, and can serve as a platform for broadcasting live web streams of any event using it. Access to these streams can be found via their oomba.tv component.[6]

gollark: Really? Isn't PCIe a bit high latency compared to onboard RAM?
gollark: It would need dedicated RAM too probably.
gollark: You can't just randomly put an x86 core somewhere and expect it to work.
gollark: You could just use Firefox, which is less evil and uses less RĀM.
gollark: 8 seconds a day isn't great. My regular unsmart watch manages about ~30 a month.

References
  1. "Linkedin Profile". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  2. "Oomba Overview". www.crunchbase.com. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  3. Takahashi, Dean. "Oomba manages real-world game tournaments with a smartphone (exclusive)". www.venturebeat.com. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  4. "Oomba 2014 GenCon Coverage". www.dicetowernews.com. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  5. Williams, Mike. "GenCon 2014 to be broadcast live by Oomba". www.agamemag.com. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  6. "Oomba Unveiling New Game Tournament Management System at Gen Con with Mayfair and Cryptozoic". www.sys-con.com. Business Wire 2014. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  7. "OOMBA SOFTWARE HELPS GEN CON ATTENDEES BREAK LARGEST ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS TOURNAMENT RECORD". Guinness World Records Limited. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  8. "Oomba is Officially Amazing". http://www.heraldonline.com/. Retrieved 18 September 2014. External link in |website= (help)
  9. "T-Sports Is Actually Coming (For Real This Time) | Geek and Sundry". Geek and Sundry. 2017-04-11. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
  10. Oomba (2017-10-31), Unrivaled Tabletop Series 2017 - Finale, retrieved 2018-06-04
  11. "Oomba Closes Acquisition of GameWorks | Orange County Business Journal". www.ocbj.com. Retrieved 2018-06-04.
  12. "GameWorks arcades has a new owner: ExWorks Capital". VentureBeat. 2018-09-05. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
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