My Take on Ouya
The Ouya, for those who don't know, was an idea that went up on Kickstarter, a website where you can look at various projects and decide to pledge money to help that project reach the light of day. This is a process called Crowd Funding. It's similar to regular investment funding, except instead of going through a bank or some rich people with some cash, you can get bits and pieces of funding from the general population.
Ouya's popularity started really when they received a huge amount of funding through Kickstarter - more than they were asking for and at the time a record for any project on the site.
What helped it get this far was a fairly rudimentary idea; let's make a very affordable gaming console with really affordable games.
That, for me, is about where the idea fell apart.
It's not that their goal is at all a bad one. It is a wonderful idea. But it doesn't work.
We all want to be able to get a lot without paying a lot. It's all about getting the best deal we can since most of us don't have the availability of funds to freely buy whatever someone else is selling (and arguably such a system is impossible since the price of goods would be driven even higher in a capitalistic system).
But the problem rests in the same ideal. That is, we want to get a good bang for our buck.
The Ouya will cost $99. Games for this console will all either be free or at least require a free trial or demo. The system itself is powered by the same basic tech that is in a smartphone from late last year/early this year. It will run on an Android based OS.
This is what's wrong. Between these two limitations - the tech and the policy - the console is not predisposed to much success. The hardware cannot support games with terribly more sophistication than Angry Birds. It is essentially a means of playing on your television screen games you would be playing on your phone. They are planning yearly upgrades in the hardware, but that would then mean having to re-buy a $100 console every year. In four to five years, you've covered the cost on hardware for one of the Big 3 consoles.
Of course, I doubt anyone will seriously buy an Ouya every year. It's not worth it relative to what updates it will receive. More likely you would look at one new Ouya every other year. That would get you just under the price of the Wii U.
There is then the all-important games. As stated, the games are mostly going to be games otherwise available on any smartphone or on Facebook. Most of these are likely to be either low budget projects by start-ups looking for exposure, one-off projects by studios with cash or time to burn, or be games loaded with incidental micro-transactions. This does not make for a very entertaining experience on a consistent basis.
Put simply, making games is a costly endeavor for even a basic game. The producers, animators, 3D artists, writers, and more, all need to get paid for their work on the project. You're not going to find a whole lot of skilled people willing to do this work for free. So, for them to get paid, you have to sell a product.
We all have dreams of being able to lay full, rich, AAA titles for next to nothing. Many of us will settle for playing good games for next to nothing. The problem is that many of the famed games that fit in this sweet spot are generally one-hit wonders and ultimately rarities. These companies, these workers, move on to bigger studios who will pay them more. These small companies allow themselves to be bought out by the bigger guys. These indie developers, much like the Ouya, are shrouded in this mystique of being out for the little guy and putting the consumer ahead of themselves. The problem is everyone seems to start this way when they have few options. But reality hits hard. They either can't sustain themselves with this model, or they are forced to make different decisions, often that the consumer doesn't like.
The Ouya is an interesting idea. It is a very cheap console with games that will either be very cheap or free to try. I just don't have much hope that truly good games will come of it. And if it can't produce good games, then what's the point? We'll see what actually comes of the console, but for now it barely registers on the radar.
Ouya's popularity started really when they received a huge amount of funding through Kickstarter - more than they were asking for and at the time a record for any project on the site.
What helped it get this far was a fairly rudimentary idea; let's make a very affordable gaming console with really affordable games.
That, for me, is about where the idea fell apart.
It's not that their goal is at all a bad one. It is a wonderful idea. But it doesn't work.
We all want to be able to get a lot without paying a lot. It's all about getting the best deal we can since most of us don't have the availability of funds to freely buy whatever someone else is selling (and arguably such a system is impossible since the price of goods would be driven even higher in a capitalistic system).
But the problem rests in the same ideal. That is, we want to get a good bang for our buck.
The Ouya will cost $99. Games for this console will all either be free or at least require a free trial or demo. The system itself is powered by the same basic tech that is in a smartphone from late last year/early this year. It will run on an Android based OS.
This is what's wrong. Between these two limitations - the tech and the policy - the console is not predisposed to much success. The hardware cannot support games with terribly more sophistication than Angry Birds. It is essentially a means of playing on your television screen games you would be playing on your phone. They are planning yearly upgrades in the hardware, but that would then mean having to re-buy a $100 console every year. In four to five years, you've covered the cost on hardware for one of the Big 3 consoles.
Of course, I doubt anyone will seriously buy an Ouya every year. It's not worth it relative to what updates it will receive. More likely you would look at one new Ouya every other year. That would get you just under the price of the Wii U.
There is then the all-important games. As stated, the games are mostly going to be games otherwise available on any smartphone or on Facebook. Most of these are likely to be either low budget projects by start-ups looking for exposure, one-off projects by studios with cash or time to burn, or be games loaded with incidental micro-transactions. This does not make for a very entertaining experience on a consistent basis.
Put simply, making games is a costly endeavor for even a basic game. The producers, animators, 3D artists, writers, and more, all need to get paid for their work on the project. You're not going to find a whole lot of skilled people willing to do this work for free. So, for them to get paid, you have to sell a product.
We all have dreams of being able to lay full, rich, AAA titles for next to nothing. Many of us will settle for playing good games for next to nothing. The problem is that many of the famed games that fit in this sweet spot are generally one-hit wonders and ultimately rarities. These companies, these workers, move on to bigger studios who will pay them more. These small companies allow themselves to be bought out by the bigger guys. These indie developers, much like the Ouya, are shrouded in this mystique of being out for the little guy and putting the consumer ahead of themselves. The problem is everyone seems to start this way when they have few options. But reality hits hard. They either can't sustain themselves with this model, or they are forced to make different decisions, often that the consumer doesn't like.
The Ouya is an interesting idea. It is a very cheap console with games that will either be very cheap or free to try. I just don't have much hope that truly good games will come of it. And if it can't produce good games, then what's the point? We'll see what actually comes of the console, but for now it barely registers on the radar.
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