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The biggest question I have- Say it goes crazy and they sell 100,000 units via KS. Is that enough of an install base to make it work? Would developers target

The biggest question I have- Say it goes crazy and they sell 100,000 units via KS. Is that enough of an install base to make it work? Would developers target a platform of only 100,000 users? How would they get more users?

jiggy2011 14y ago
Depends on those users I guess. If they are enthusiastic gamers with high disposable incomes then yes that probably makes the platform viable (or at least has a chance to). If instead they are a mixture of geeks who want to hack the hardware and low income families who are likely to run pirate games or buy relatively few games then no. Basically it's the same situation as with iOS/Android phones. iOS has a smaller install base but the base they do have is generally more profitable. It will also depend on how difficult it is to port existing titles to this console. This will manifest itself in terms of controls (for existing touch screen games) and in terms of software compatibility. Hopefully also, games developed for this will be trivial to port to a regular Linux distro.
- wmf 14y ago
  enthusiastic gamers with high disposable incomes Isn't that a subset of the existing Xbox/PS3 market, in which case developers would be better off targeting Xbox. The market for Ouya has to be people who are willing to spend some money on a console but not $300; it's not clear that such a niche exists.
  - jiggy2011 14y ago
    Yes, especially considering that you can get a used xbox (with games) much cheaper than that. One place where this might do well is in developing economies, in which case you better make sure that your games are well internationalized and also be prepared that 99% of your players are going to be running a pirate version.
vibrunazo 14y ago
Are all of you guys missing the whole point that this is on Adnroid? They specifically chose to build it on Android precisely because of this problem. You're not developing for a platform with OUYA users only. You're developing for the fastest growing platform in the world with over 1 million new devices per day. And on top of that. If you add gamepad support (which will be trivial for most games, and those which are not won't even bother). And take additional 5 minutes to upload to the OUYA store. Now you're also supporting the OUYA devices, in addition to all other Android devices. The OUYA is not just its own single thing. It's just a tiny part of a huge ecosystem. And this tiny part is helping shape the direction that the rest of the ecosystem is going. (meaning you'll see more gamepad-friendly games in the future) You can be sure that the OUYA won't be the only Android console-like device we'll be developing for. Many more will come to compete with it in the coming years. One really big sign of how innovative this is. Is that even many of the HN cannot grasp what they're doing. Watching the critics argue with each other here, reminds me of watching the MPAA discuss anti-piracy measures. No offense intended :)
- jiggy2011 14y ago
  I would disagree that adding gamepad support for existing games will be "trivial" especially if you care about the game experience at all. Changing the input type for a game in most cases fundamentally changes what the game is. It can also mean that the difficultly curve has to be adjusted significantly because things that used to be hard suddenly become easy and vice versa. For a good example of this , look at the original Unreal Tournament on the PC. The maps on this game take huge advantage of the vertical space and allow for precision shooting over large distances thanks to the mouse. Now look at popular FPS games on consoles, most use way less in terms of the vertical space and typically incorporate some form of aiming assist to make distance shots possible. Having the OS based on android will provide some advantage is re-usable game code but I think this overstates the issues when it comes to porting to different platforms.
  - vibrunazo 14y ago
    Jiggy, it's very clear from your posts on this thread that you are clueless about both game and android development. You jump from flawed argument to a different flawed argument after the first flaw is pointed out. You seem to be more worried about criticizing the ouya out of criticizing's sake, instead of being worried about the merit of your arguments. Why are you doing this? What is your motivation to continue with this? I've already answered your argument in the very post you're replying to. I wonder if you're even bothering reading. Some games already support d-pad, others don't. For the ones that do, it will be trivial, the ones that don't, won't bother porting.

jiggy2011 14y ago

Depends on those users I guess. If they are enthusiastic gamers with high disposable incomes then yes that probably makes the platform viable (or at least has a chance to). If instead they are a mixture of geeks who want to hack the hardware and low income families who are likely to run pirate games or buy relatively few games then no. Basically it's the same situation as with iOS/Android phones. iOS has a smaller install base but the base they do have is generally more profitable. It will also depend on how difficult it is to port existing titles to this console. This will manifest itself in terms of controls (for existing touch screen games) and in terms of software compatibility. Hopefully also, games developed for this will be trivial to port to a regular Linux distro.

wmf 14y ago
enthusiastic gamers with high disposable incomes Isn't that a subset of the existing Xbox/PS3 market, in which case developers would be better off targeting Xbox. The market for Ouya has to be people who are willing to spend some money on a console but not $300; it's not clear that such a niche exists.
- jiggy2011 14y ago
  Yes, especially considering that you can get a used xbox (with games) much cheaper than that. One place where this might do well is in developing economies, in which case you better make sure that your games are well internationalized and also be prepared that 99% of your players are going to be running a pirate version.

vibrunazo 14y ago

Are all of you guys missing the whole point that this is on Adnroid? They specifically chose to build it on Android precisely because of this problem. You're not developing for a platform with OUYA users only. You're developing for the fastest growing platform in the world with over 1 million new devices per day. And on top of that. If you add gamepad support (which will be trivial for most games, and those which are not won't even bother). And take additional 5 minutes to upload to the OUYA store. Now you're also supporting the OUYA devices, in addition to all other Android devices. The OUYA is not just its own single thing. It's just a tiny part of a huge ecosystem. And this tiny part is helping shape the direction that the rest of the ecosystem is going. (meaning you'll see more gamepad-friendly games in the future) You can be sure that the OUYA won't be the only Android console-like device we'll be developing for. Many more will come to compete with it in the coming years. One really big sign of how innovative this is. Is that even many of the HN cannot grasp what they're doing. Watching the critics argue with each other here, reminds me of watching the MPAA discuss anti-piracy measures. No offense intended :)

jiggy2011 14y ago
I would disagree that adding gamepad support for existing games will be "trivial" especially if you care about the game experience at all. Changing the input type for a game in most cases fundamentally changes what the game is. It can also mean that the difficultly curve has to be adjusted significantly because things that used to be hard suddenly become easy and vice versa. For a good example of this , look at the original Unreal Tournament on the PC. The maps on this game take huge advantage of the vertical space and allow for precision shooting over large distances thanks to the mouse. Now look at popular FPS games on consoles, most use way less in terms of the vertical space and typically incorporate some form of aiming assist to make distance shots possible. Having the OS based on android will provide some advantage is re-usable game code but I think this overstates the issues when it comes to porting to different platforms.
- vibrunazo 14y ago
  Jiggy, it's very clear from your posts on this thread that you are clueless about both game and android development. You jump from flawed argument to a different flawed argument after the first flaw is pointed out. You seem to be more worried about criticizing the ouya out of criticizing's sake, instead of being worried about the merit of your arguments. Why are you doing this? What is your motivation to continue with this? I've already answered your argument in the very post you're replying to. I wonder if you're even bothering reading. Some games already support d-pad, others don't. For the ones that do, it will be trivial, the ones that don't, won't bother porting.