BlueStacks' GamePop Console

BlueStacks is shoring up support for its GamePop Android console in a big way.

The company announced today that it’s adding $50 worth of paid games from top developers to GamePop. Additionally, it’s added COM2US, Korea’s biggest game developer, to its list of partners.

BlueStacks developed technology to let you run your Android apps on computers . With GamePop, announced a few weeks ago, it’s using that same tech to bring mobile Android games to your television screen. Rather than copy the approach of other Android consoles that are all about buying mobile games, like Ouya and GameStick, BlueStacks is mimicking Netflix’s model. For $7 a month, you get access to a library of 500 mobile games on the console.

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Due to high pre-order demand, the company is extending its offer to give away the GamePop console for free until the end of June. Afterwards, GamePop will cost $129 (a bit more than the $99 Ouya).

While mobile games are typically only a few bucks, their cost can add up pretty quickly as you start playing more titles. It’ll be interesting to see how GamePop fares by taking a subscription focus. I could see it being useful for kids (and their parents), since it gives them a decent selection of titles for a single fee.

“Other microconsoles are taking on the PS4 and XBOX One directly and aiming at hardcore gamers, but we’re going a different way,” CEO Rosen Sharma told Venturebeat in an email. “The biggest audience for mobile gaming on TV [is] the youngest generation, who have never heard of Mario but know Subway Surfers well. Kids under 13 come into our office and go nuts for these games on the bigger screen.”

Campbell, Calif.-based BlueStacks has raised $15 million so far from Andreessen Horowitz, Ignition Venture Management, Intel Capital, and others.

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