6 ms·

Ouya's first exclusive game

41 points by alt_ 14y ago

vibrunazo 14y ago
I'm not sure I understand the developer incentive for releasing a game exclusively for the Ouya. As a game developer I'm excited by the Ouya, but precisely because it's part of the larger Android ecosystem. So I can release my games for a large screen console on the OUYA store and for millions of Android mobile devices on the Play Store. With very little engineering effort between the two (saved you already planed d-pad support in your game). So why would I publish exclusively only on the Ouya store and not the Play store? Is there some partnership plan somewhere that I'm missing? Robotoki is getting a lot of good marketing directly from Ouya. That sounds like an interesting partnership. But is that scalable for the rest of us?
- charlesju 14y ago
  If you read carefully the developer is releasing a prequel to his real game. They are trying to leverage Ouya for publicity for when it releases its real game which will not be under an exclusive deal. This is similar to movie studios providing say, Hulu or iTunes with exclusive trailers, and leveraging their platform for advertising.
- wmf 14y ago
  You got it; the first Ouya exclusive is interesting but the Nth is not.
solac3 14y ago
Ouya's KickStarter feels less like you are "backing it" to make it happen than it does advertizing to potential investors. The video is what I would call more than a little vague and uncertain of itself. Are you backing what "could be" or what WILL be?
- TillE 14y ago
  They've raised $5m and counting. What do they need investors for?
  - quaunaut 14y ago
    For possibly ever becoming viable. Look, I'm a fan of indies as much as anyone else, but mass producing a game console- even one with this cheap of parts- is just not possible without more money. I'd be sincerely surprised if the money they've raised so far covered more than just paying the salaries of their employees and get the basic infrastructure set up.
    - Volpe 14y ago
      The fuseproject has existed for a while, where a lot of the skills come from. They aren't building a company from scratch... just a product.
    - nitrogen 14y ago
      Back in 2001 when the original Xbox and PS2 were current-generation consoles, the Indrema console failed because they couldn't get $10mil in capital. With more accessible Chinese manufacturing, more accessible venture capital, and a Kickstarter campaign that's already netted half that amount, I think Ouya stands a pretty good chance of being profitable.
  - wmf 14y ago
    R&D money. Most of the $5M will go to manufacturing the consoles they've pre-sold.
  - mattmanser 14y ago
    How much did MS spend on just getting market penetration with the XBox? Wasn't it over a billion? Do you not get how this market works? Do you not remember the Dreamcast? There are massive, colossal flops in the console market out there. How long before MS even started posting a profit? On the one hand it'd be awesome if they pull it off. On the other hand they have pretty pictures of controllers, mock ups and what seems like a very delusional CEO. This has all the potential of killing kickstarter forever. Watching the original video makes you think they've actually got f all at the moment and $5 mill's a tiny drop in the ocean for actually making a dent in the console market. And worse than that they've promised $99 consoles before actually manufacturing it. But the Android angle and the massive free publicity they're getting, they could just pull it off. But their promotional video really gives me nothing but doubts.
- ralfn 14y ago
  They have working prototypes. They can produce those for less than 99 dollars. They need investors to prefinance the next batch. Buying the parts requires money,you dont have, until the finished product is sold to a retailer. In other words: they need cash flow.
  - flatline3 14y ago
    Do they actually have a working prototype? It's very unclear in their messaging, and they show no pictures of even semi-complete devices. I could attach a ps3 controller to an omap4 evaluation board running Android tomorrow, but that wouldn't make it a proper prototype.
marcamillion 14y ago
This is brilliant on many levels. This game, good or not, will make a ton-load of money - because of the hype/craze around Ouya. This is Distribution 101. Find a hot platform/wave, and ride it as long as you can. This guy is at the top of the wave and will be riding all the way to the steps of the bank.
- redslazer 14y ago
  They are releasing in 2015. The internet and the sort of hype around a gaming console is not going to last that long. Remember the internet (as a whole) has the long term memory of an intelligent goldfish. If they had a game to release right now, as the OUYA launched then you would be right but in this case it seems kind of far fetched.
  - joshschreuder 14y ago
    If it makes the goal amount (it is currently $4M above it), the money is charged from people and is then in Robotoki's hands. Whether those people still care about the game in 2015 is irrelevant - as a money making venture, it's quite clever (and clearly successful). EDIT: Never mind - I got confused thinking the game had raised $5M on Kickstarter, not the Ouya. My bad.
    - dekz 14y ago
      Yes I was confused also, it's actually an Update post on Ouya's Kickstarter project, not a new project for HumanElement.
  - marcamillion 14y ago
    I am sure they will get 'pre-orders' and all this other stuff - still capitalizing on the hype.
eridius 14y ago
Has Ouya actually gotten any other games promised for their platform yet? I don't care about exclusivity. I just want to know that there will actually be stuff to play when it comes out. I pledged originally, but cancelled after Ben Kuchera's skeptical article. I'd love to be given a reason to reinstate my pledge.
- alttab 14y ago
  How about the fact that you simply want to see the idea succeed? That was enough for me. Even if it fails I know I was a part of the community that tried.
  - eridius 14y ago
    They passed their funding goal ages. What's your definition of "succeed"? Me pledging for a console isn't going to do much to get good games to be promised for it. I'd love to see it succeed, but it's hard to justify paying $100 for something that isn't even useful by itself.
    - alttab 14y ago
      Because I would love to see a console I could tinker with that is an open platform, (versus say trying to do XNA development), the $100 is worth feeling like I'm apart of something bigger than myself. Sure its a gamble, but I want to see it enough that there is value to me in simply being involved. Clearly others agree with me. You don't have to feel the same way, and clearly you don't. No one is asking you to participate - which is the beauty of the kickstarter format. At this point I don't see what good anyone is doing criticising it. Either you're on board.... or just chill out because it doesn't affect you in any way. That is, unless you work for an existing game studio.
      - eridius 14y ago
        Criticizing? I genuinely want it to succeed, but it needs games. A console without games isn't a console. It seems like getting developers to promise games at launch (or at least shortly after it) should be one of the top priorities for the Ouya team right now, but I don't see any evidence of that happening.
jerlam 14y ago
From the looks of it, there's no meat behind this story other than the announcement. The developer has nothing more than words and some concept art. This is a pure marketing ploy for both the Ouya developers and the game developers - neither have anything invested at the moment, both just drumming up hype for their unreleased products. Talk is cheap, as they say.
- smashing 14y ago
  Those words and pictures are now worth $5,213,248 with 20 days to go.
defdac 14y ago
Since Unity3D already can deploy to Androd platforms I would venture to guess that we will see quite alot of games ready for the launch of Ouya.

41 points by alt_ 14y ago

I'm not sure I understand the developer incentive for releasing a game exclusively for the Ouya. As a game developer I'm excited by the Ouya, but precisely because it's part of the larger Android ecosystem. So I can release my games for a large screen console on the OUYA store and for millions of Android mobile devices on the Play Store. With very little engineering effort between the two (saved you already planed d-pad support in your game). So why would I publish exclusively only on the Ouya store and not the Play store? Is there some partnership plan somewhere that I'm missing? Robotoki is getting a lot of good marketing directly from Ouya. That sounds like an interesting partnership. But is that scalable for the rest of us?

charlesju 14y ago
If you read carefully the developer is releasing a prequel to his real game. They are trying to leverage Ouya for publicity for when it releases its real game which will not be under an exclusive deal. This is similar to movie studios providing say, Hulu or iTunes with exclusive trailers, and leveraging their platform for advertising.
wmf 14y ago
You got it; the first Ouya exclusive is interesting but the Nth is not.

solac3 14y ago

Ouya's KickStarter feels less like you are "backing it" to make it happen than it does advertizing to potential investors. The video is what I would call more than a little vague and uncertain of itself. Are you backing what "could be" or what WILL be?

TillE 14y ago
They've raised $5m and counting. What do they need investors for?
- quaunaut 14y ago
  For possibly ever becoming viable. Look, I'm a fan of indies as much as anyone else, but mass producing a game console- even one with this cheap of parts- is just not possible without more money. I'd be sincerely surprised if the money they've raised so far covered more than just paying the salaries of their employees and get the basic infrastructure set up.
  - Volpe 14y ago
    The fuseproject has existed for a while, where a lot of the skills come from. They aren't building a company from scratch... just a product.
  - nitrogen 14y ago
    Back in 2001 when the original Xbox and PS2 were current-generation consoles, the Indrema console failed because they couldn't get $10mil in capital. With more accessible Chinese manufacturing, more accessible venture capital, and a Kickstarter campaign that's already netted half that amount, I think Ouya stands a pretty good chance of being profitable.
- wmf 14y ago
  R&D money. Most of the $5M will go to manufacturing the consoles they've pre-sold.
- mattmanser 14y ago
  How much did MS spend on just getting market penetration with the XBox? Wasn't it over a billion? Do you not get how this market works? Do you not remember the Dreamcast? There are massive, colossal flops in the console market out there. How long before MS even started posting a profit? On the one hand it'd be awesome if they pull it off. On the other hand they have pretty pictures of controllers, mock ups and what seems like a very delusional CEO. This has all the potential of killing kickstarter forever. Watching the original video makes you think they've actually got f all at the moment and $5 mill's a tiny drop in the ocean for actually making a dent in the console market. And worse than that they've promised $99 consoles before actually manufacturing it. But the Android angle and the massive free publicity they're getting, they could just pull it off. But their promotional video really gives me nothing but doubts.
ralfn 14y ago
They have working prototypes. They can produce those for less than 99 dollars. They need investors to prefinance the next batch. Buying the parts requires money,you dont have, until the finished product is sold to a retailer. In other words: they need cash flow.
- flatline3 14y ago
  Do they actually have a working prototype? It's very unclear in their messaging, and they show no pictures of even semi-complete devices. I could attach a ps3 controller to an omap4 evaluation board running Android tomorrow, but that wouldn't make it a proper prototype.

marcamillion 14y ago

This is brilliant on many levels. This game, good or not, will make a ton-load of money - because of the hype/craze around Ouya. This is Distribution 101. Find a hot platform/wave, and ride it as long as you can. This guy is at the top of the wave and will be riding all the way to the steps of the bank.

redslazer 14y ago
They are releasing in 2015. The internet and the sort of hype around a gaming console is not going to last that long. Remember the internet (as a whole) has the long term memory of an intelligent goldfish. If they had a game to release right now, as the OUYA launched then you would be right but in this case it seems kind of far fetched.
- joshschreuder 14y ago
  If it makes the goal amount (it is currently $4M above it), the money is charged from people and is then in Robotoki's hands. Whether those people still care about the game in 2015 is irrelevant - as a money making venture, it's quite clever (and clearly successful). EDIT: Never mind - I got confused thinking the game had raised $5M on Kickstarter, not the Ouya. My bad.
  - dekz 14y ago
    Yes I was confused also, it's actually an Update post on Ouya's Kickstarter project, not a new project for HumanElement.
- marcamillion 14y ago
  I am sure they will get 'pre-orders' and all this other stuff - still capitalizing on the hype.

eridius 14y ago

Has Ouya actually gotten any other games promised for their platform yet? I don't care about exclusivity. I just want to know that there will actually be stuff to play when it comes out. I pledged originally, but cancelled after Ben Kuchera's skeptical article. I'd love to be given a reason to reinstate my pledge.

alttab 14y ago
How about the fact that you simply want to see the idea succeed? That was enough for me. Even if it fails I know I was a part of the community that tried.
- eridius 14y ago
  They passed their funding goal ages. What's your definition of "succeed"? Me pledging for a console isn't going to do much to get good games to be promised for it. I'd love to see it succeed, but it's hard to justify paying $100 for something that isn't even useful by itself.
  - alttab 14y ago
    Because I would love to see a console I could tinker with that is an open platform, (versus say trying to do XNA development), the $100 is worth feeling like I'm apart of something bigger than myself. Sure its a gamble, but I want to see it enough that there is value to me in simply being involved. Clearly others agree with me. You don't have to feel the same way, and clearly you don't. No one is asking you to participate - which is the beauty of the kickstarter format. At this point I don't see what good anyone is doing criticising it. Either you're on board.... or just chill out because it doesn't affect you in any way. That is, unless you work for an existing game studio.
    - eridius 14y ago
      Criticizing? I genuinely want it to succeed, but it needs games. A console without games isn't a console. It seems like getting developers to promise games at launch (or at least shortly after it) should be one of the top priorities for the Ouya team right now, but I don't see any evidence of that happening.

jerlam 14y ago

From the looks of it, there's no meat behind this story other than the announcement. The developer has nothing more than words and some concept art. This is a pure marketing ploy for both the Ouya developers and the game developers - neither have anything invested at the moment, both just drumming up hype for their unreleased products. Talk is cheap, as they say.

smashing 14y ago
Those words and pictures are now worth $5,213,248 with 20 days to go.

defdac 14y ago

Since Unity3D already can deploy to Androd platforms I would venture to guess that we will see quite alot of games ready for the launch of Ouya.