2018 has had its fair share of absurdity; we’ve seen a fair number questionable happenings throughout the year, especially in the gaming industry. For example, Thanos briefly making a cameo in Fortnite was a shining example of the game and film industry colliding and creating something beautiful. Well, it seems the music industry wants a slice of the cake too (if you can count Soulja Boy as a representative of the music industry).
The Crank That singer has decided to venture into selling products. Using his name as a prefix, Soulja Boy plans to sell a variety of cheapish products, starting with the SouljaGame Console and the SouljaGame Handheld (along with other products such as the SouljaWatch and the SouljaPods).
First let’s talk about the console:
Effectively, Soulja Boy has taken Chinese manufacturer Anbernic’s designs and slapped ‘Soulja’ in front of them. Whether Anebernic are okay with this is unknown but what puzzles me is the fact that they sell the exact same console for $100 on their website.
The SouljaGame Console is an emulation system allowing you to play the games of yesteryear. Anyone familiar with the emulation scene will know this is one of the thousands of emulation consoles available on the market all generally cheap. In other words, Soulja Boy isn’t making moves into the video game scene, he’s entering a grey market in gaming that has been facing waves of legal issues in recent months.
What makes it illegal? Well, the console comes pre-loaded with 800 titles, most of which you probably don’t own a physical copy of, raising the question – are you pirating? Chances are, the console can’t even run anything post PS1 but then comes along the SouljaGame Handheld:
Now this handheld edition of the SouljaGame product not only boasts a whopping 3000 games, but it also claims to support Nintendo 3DS, Switch and PS Vita titles. An ambitious statement considering the console its based off can’t even achieve that feat.
At the time of writing, nobody has posted videos of demoing the products despite Soulja Boy claiming he’s already made $250,000 in sales. Many have accused the rapper of creating the website as a scam by dropshipping items and selling them at a higher price than what he paid for them. Soulja Boy, in an interview with the Rolling Stones, revealed he’s aware of the criticism and believes what he’s doing is legitimate:
“Honestly, I feel that everything is 100% legit and there will be no reason for any legal ramifications or anything like that. Honestly, I don’t have any worries at all, any concerns, because everything we’re doing is legit. It’s been researched. Everything has been basically confirmed that it’s a green light and we’re good. It’s partly the people from the outside looking in, that aren’t understanding the type of deals that were made behind the scenes that are worried.”
I realize this article may be a bit confusing so I’ve highlighted the main points:
- Soulja Boy has created a Shopify website featuring various products including a watch, a phone, a tablet and two video game consoles
- The consoles bear striking resemblance to those made by Anbernic apart from prices which are considerably higher
- Soulja Boy claims his version of the console can run emulated Switch, 3DS and Vita titles
And there you have it folks, Soulja Boy’s venture into the video game industry. Will he continue? Perhaps. If you’d like to purchase one of Soulja Boy’s products, you can do so here.