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I've ordered one, even though I only do occasional casual gaming on my phone and don't even have a TV plugged in. I'm wondering how they are able to put all th

by asher_ 14y ago

I've ordered one, even though I only do occasional casual gaming on my phone and don't even have a TV plugged in. I'm wondering how they are able to put all this stuff in a box, with a nice controller, for their price point. It seems like it would be really hard to make money on this.

bradfa 14y ago
At $100 each for just the systems, I doubt they're making any money from the Kickstarter. They will make a few $100k from the higher levels, though. What they're doing is funding the initial build (fixtures, test rigs, plastics molds, etc) and build hype / excitement. I assume retail prices will be higher, probably in the $150 range, when they'll make decent margins on the hardware. Their volumes will be much higher (probably 2 orders of magnitude) than Panda / Beagle boards (Pandas sell for $182, Beagle xM for $150, both are profitable). They'll also probably offer "services" consulting with developers to help them get the most out of the SDK which will be an alternate revenue stream. No screen, no battery, no mobile phone radio, no requirement for physically small size. All allow quite lower hardware BOM costs than equivalent phones / tablets.
- waterlesscloud 14y ago
  It's something like $90-$95 after the Kickstarter and Amazon fees come out of it, right?
- learc83 14y ago
  Their money is going to come from the 30% they're taking from all games sold in their game store (at least that's the plan).
TillE 14y ago
You can get a Raspberry Pi for $25. Use better components, add a plastic case with buttons, and that's it, right? No screen and no battery saves them quite a bit.
funkaster 14y ago
The way I see it, they're not trying to profit from the console, but from the App ecosystem: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console#ImAGameDeveIdLikeToTalkWithYouAbouPublMyGameOnOuyaHowDoIDoThat http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-... IMO, The kickstarter campaing is to raise enough money to produce a lot of consoles already sold (close to cost, maybe loosing a bit?), creating a big-enough mass of players so that developers can start thinking in actually creating games for the platform, and make money from that. At least, that's what I would do :)
mahyarm 14y ago
It's basically an apple TV, with a $20/$30 bluetooth controller. I can see apple creating Apple TV apps and selling a controller accessory to compete.
- rocky1138 14y ago
  Really? I can't imagine Apple doing a controller. Especially one with physical buttons. Well, maybe now that Steve's gone.
  - mahyarm 14y ago
    The apple TV remote is already a controller, just of a different sort.

by asher_ 14y ago

bradfa 14y ago

At $100 each for just the systems, I doubt they're making any money from the Kickstarter. They will make a few $100k from the higher levels, though. What they're doing is funding the initial build (fixtures, test rigs, plastics molds, etc) and build hype / excitement. I assume retail prices will be higher, probably in the $150 range, when they'll make decent margins on the hardware. Their volumes will be much higher (probably 2 orders of magnitude) than Panda / Beagle boards (Pandas sell for $182, Beagle xM for $150, both are profitable). They'll also probably offer "services" consulting with developers to help them get the most out of the SDK which will be an alternate revenue stream. No screen, no battery, no mobile phone radio, no requirement for physically small size. All allow quite lower hardware BOM costs than equivalent phones / tablets.

waterlesscloud 14y ago
It's something like $90-$95 after the Kickstarter and Amazon fees come out of it, right?
learc83 14y ago
Their money is going to come from the 30% they're taking from all games sold in their game store (at least that's the plan).

TillE 14y ago

You can get a Raspberry Pi for $25. Use better components, add a plastic case with buttons, and that's it, right? No screen and no battery saves them quite a bit.

funkaster 14y ago

The way I see it, they're not trying to profit from the console, but from the App ecosystem: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console#ImAGameDeveIdLikeToTalkWithYouAbouPublMyGameOnOuyaHowDoIDoThat http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-... IMO, The kickstarter campaing is to raise enough money to produce a lot of consoles already sold (close to cost, maybe loosing a bit?), creating a big-enough mass of players so that developers can start thinking in actually creating games for the platform, and make money from that. At least, that's what I would do :)

mahyarm 14y ago

It's basically an apple TV, with a $20/$30 bluetooth controller. I can see apple creating Apple TV apps and selling a controller accessory to compete.

rocky1138 14y ago
Really? I can't imagine Apple doing a controller. Especially one with physical buttons. Well, maybe now that Steve's gone.
- mahyarm 14y ago
  The apple TV remote is already a controller, just of a different sort.