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Soulja Boy is selling his own cheap, rebranded video game consoles

Soulja Boy is selling his own cheap, rebranded video game consoles

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And they seem illegal?

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Soulja Boy is stepping back from “cranking it” and pivoting to an entirely new field this week: selling his own rebranded video game consoles and refurbished tech accessories at a ridiculous markup.

Soulja has been a gamer his entire life, so it’s only natural for him to want to launch his own systems, and this week, he’s done that — kind of. He now sells two different consoles on his website SouljaWatch.com, both of which bear his namesake: the SouljaGame Console and the SouljaGame Handheld.

The problem, of course, is they’re not actually his creations; they’re tactlessly rebranded, cheaply produced emulator hardware that he’s selling for 66 percent more than you can find it for right now on Amazon — $100 instead of the $60, for instance. In a Rolling Stone interview, Soulja Boy said, “I just think that when you’re coming out with a new product you’re gonna be criticized.”

Soulja Boy claims that the Console is capable of running PlayStation, NeoGeo, PC, Sega, Game Boy Advance, and NES games, as well as “SouljaGames.” The website states that the console comes with 800 games preinstalled onto the console. According to the site, the handheld runs Switch, 3DS, Vita, NeoGeo, Game Boy Color and Advance games, and it will have 3,000 games built into the system.

That raises another issue: that’s a lot of games, and it seems unlikely that the system will actually run licensed copies of them, especially from companies like Nintendo. More likely than not, the systems will be running ROMs, which could be troublesome for Soulja in the future. Nintendo, especially, has been taking aim at ROMs of its games, suing the LoveROMS and LoveRetro sites for “brazen and mass-scale infringement of Nintendo’s intellectual property rights.”

Perhaps Soulja thinks he’ll be able to deflect legal issues by passing any blame onto the actual hardware manufacturer. After all, these same items are available directly from Amazon. “Honestly, I don’t have any worries at all, any concerns, because everything we’re doing is legit. It’s been researched,” he told Rolling Stone.

Soulja Boy’s interest in video games isn’t anything new. Shortly after his 2007 hit took middle school dances across the country by storm, he was uploading videos on YouTube into a series he called “Soulja Boy Video Game Blog.”

“I’m challenging anyone and EVERYONE who think they can touch me on Gears, Halo 3, or C.O.D 4. Find me on Live and get you some!” the description of the first video reads. “Don’t let the rapping fool you. Prepare to be PWND by Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em.”

But if the video game business withers, Soulja has another side hustle to keep him busy: his website also sells several other products (which are all on sale right now). SouljaPods, SouljaHeadphones, SouljaWatches, SouljaPhones, and the SouljaPad are all currently available for purchase.

Correction December 10th, 1:06PM ET: Clarified that these are not Soulja Boy’s own game consoles. They’re being rebranded and resold at a markup.