Oomba

Oomba, Inc. was a software startup based in Irvine, California, founded in 2012 by businessman and video game developer Michael Williams. The company initially aimed to develop a cloud-based social platform for organizing and participating in gaming tournaments of all kinds. Williams, with a background in producing, coding, and designing over 25 video games, shifted the company's focus from a prior project on digital currency for games to tournament organization software.

The company's core product was a software platform, accessible via a mobile app and website, designed for tournament organization, webcasting, and social networking. This system was intended to automatically organize tournaments for any user-defined game and serve as a platform for broadcasting live events through its Oomba.tv component. In 2014, Oomba partnered with Mayfair Games and Cryptozoic Entertainment, launching its platform in private beta during Gen Con, where it set a Guinness World Record for the largest Rock, Paper, Scissors tournament with 2,950 participants. The company's TV production arm, OombaTV, launched a national tournament series called Unrivaled in 2017, featuring several popular tabletop games. A significant move came in October 2017 when Oomba acquired the gaming and entertainment venue company GameWorks Entertainment LLC for $17 million.

However, the company's operations ceased following allegations against its founder and claims of misrepresentation regarding the software's capabilities. In June 2018, Michael Williams departed from Oomba. He later founded Glytch, a company focused on developing esports stadiums.

Keywords: Oomba, tournament management software, gaming tournaments, esports platform, social gaming network, Michael Williams, Oomba.tv, GameWorks, Unrivaled tournament, Mayfair Games, Cryptozoic Entertainment, Gen Con, live event broadcasting, competitive gaming, tabletop games, video game industry, failed startup