Soulja Boy's new console is giving déjà vu (and scam vibes)
But as you might expect, things aren't exactly by the book this time either as he has just rebranded another format - not aware of this - and charges a lot more for it.
If you've been following the gaming industry for a long time, Soulja Boy is a name you're probably familiar with, albeit on dubious grounds. In 2018, he launched his own console, which was actually just a Chinese pirate unit that he renamed and gave an unreasonable price tag.
It didn't go so well though, because the device was also filled with pirated Nintendo games, and they weren't too impressed with the move and forced him to stop selling it. However, he claimed to have sold millions of consoles and said in 2019 that he was the man who got Nintendo of America's then-CEO Reggie Fils-Aime to quit.
Fast forward two years, and Soulja Boy was at it again, planning to release his own console in 2021. That same year, he also claimed to have bought Atari, something Atari however denied.
We now jump forward another four years to today, because now Soulja Boy is at it again. Via his Instagram account, he is now talking about his latest gaming device, the SouljaGameFlip. And we understand that this sounds tempting, but it seems that Soulja Boy's very liberal approach to the truth means that it might be wise to hold on to your money for a while longer.
The device he is selling is just a rebranded Retroid Pocket Flip 2, a popular retro device from the well-regarded company Retroid. However, Soulja Boy charges two to three times as much for its SouljaGameFlip. RetroDodo contacted Retroid to find out more about why they had entered into a partnership with Soulja Boy and received a unsurprising response:
"I didn't know about this. This is not any kind of official licensing deal. He does not have permission to rebrand our products and sell them as his own. The Retroid Pocket Flip 2 is patented in the U.S. by ourselves."
In short, it sounds like Soulja Boy won't be taking over the gaming world this time either. But if you really want to pay way too much for the device, you can do so here. If you prefer the much lower original price, you can buy a Retroid Pocket Flip 2 here.
