Julie Uhrman, CEO of Ouya, took the Eurogamer stage at 3pm today in the fourth day of the Expo, to talk about how the Ouya console has a future and plans for it going forward. If you’re one of those people who believes the success of a console depends on how well it sells, or how many games it has, then like much of the internet, by now you might be calling the Ouya a colossal failure and wondering how long it will take before it disappears from the market. You’d also be missing the point. Sure, Ouya may not have the same catalogue of games as major consoles like those from Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo; nor is it as widespread. But Ouya was never intended to compete with those.
The REAL focus of Ouya, Julie explained, is to open up the television and free up developers to build their indie games on the TV, rather than on devices that don’t have the presence of a traditional games console, in order to bring those games to wider attention. What’s more, Ouya is designed to allow anyone to become a game developer, regardless of the size of their team or whether they’re a big studio or just one person in their bedroom. “Ouya is the only console that’s open to everyone. It’s great that the price point is coming down and the barriers to entry are simplifying; but the important thing is with Ouya, anyone can develop and get involved.”
The future of Ouya truly lies in the 24,000-plus developers developing for the console, all of which are supported through advice and tools by Ouya. With the Free The games campaign, Ouya is taking steps to support these developers even more. Any game project for Ouya that uses Kickstarter to raise funds, can get extra financial support from Ouya if there’s clear support for the game. With a fund of $1 million to give away in a year, Kickstarted Ouya games that raise over $10,000 can apply to have their funds matched by Ouya themselves, thus doubling the cash available for them to take the game further and get it out on the Ouya – with the caveat that there has to be 100 or more backers providing the funds. This caveat is to prevent cheating, which occurred in the early part of the campaign’s life; and because Ouya want to see the community truly get behind the games they care about. What’s more, Ouya have no intention to act as gatekeepers for their own console. “We believe in being open. We don’t want to lock you into developing for just our console … nor do we want to say, ‘only these games are getting on the Ouya’.”
With every Ouya console being its own development kit; and tools being available for free online to further help develop Ouya games, developers can get their games to the public easier and quicker as well. “We want your game live just as soon as you get it live. So we have a fast review process – most games take just 24 to 48 hours to be accepted or rejected.” Julie was joined by a group of developers from Fayju games – one of the Ouya’s “Elite” backers – who themselves added: “Holding your newly-developed game in your hand and realising the means are right there to release it is empowering.”
Fayju also explained how they found the console’s Tegra 3 processor surprisingly powerful; and how the compact size and better cooling of the console – with fans right over the processor – allowed them to utilise more of the processor’s power without worrying about the overheating problems that plague other devices. The company presented two of their own games – “The Awesome Frog?” and “Cascade” – as examples of what they could do with the console, even going as far to add that Ouya was the catalyst that finally allowed Cascade – a game based on the Analogue Cascade Hypothesis and research into Alzheimer’s effects on the brain; and designed to raise awareness of brain diseases – to happen.
Julie also revealed that the Ouya itself will not be standing still. First of all, the console is about to hit new markets, with an expanded distribution network in Europe. As part of this, Ouya consoles will soon be updated “with localisations to support French, Spanish and German languages … and Pound and Euro currencies.” Additionally, next year, new builds of the Ouya console are planned to be developed and sold, with “faster, better, more up-to-date chip sets” for even more powerful gaming.
So what are the final words on Ouya’s future? “For us to be successful, we need you guys. Your time is now.”
“Ouya is still the only fully open console on the market. That’s why we win.”
