Samsung bets mobile games will be big on TV with BlueStacks investment

GamePop microconsole maker BlueStacks announced earlier this week that it has accepted $13 million in its most recent round of funding, including an undisclosed sum from Samsung's venture investment division. Samsung Ventures vice president Ilseok Yoon stated in a press release that the deal was an "easy choice" in light of how important the mobile games market has become, suggesting the company is looking to cut a deal to bring those games to its line of TVs and PCs. BlueStacks' GamePop microconsole is designed to render Android and iOS games playable on PC and TV hardware, and the company now appears to be pitching the microconsole as a white-label device that can be rebranded and packaged with -- or built into -- other companies' existing products. You may remember that GamePop was initially pitched last year as a subscription-based Ouya competitor that would charge a $7 monthly fee for the ability to access and play mobile games from the company's developer partners -- including Glu Mobile and Halfbrick -- on the big screen. It finally began shipping review units of the microconsole out to select members of the press in March, but has yet to make good on preorders or launch the GamePop as a retail product. When reached for comment, a BlueStacks representative told Gamasutra that the company intended to "honor and fulfill the preorders through one of our partners" at some point in the future.