15 replies to this topic

[Zinix]

 

 

She said it was "too early" to draw conclusions from early stats, that suggest many gamers are taking full advantage of the game's library of free-to-play demos, and are not upgrading to full versions.

"To say developers can't make money on Ouya, I take offense to that," she said. "The console has only been out for a month, and developers have only had access to the hardware for about six months. We really like what we see so far, and so do developers and gamers."

 

 

http://www.polygon.c...t-to-buy-a-game

 

Well this thing is destined to fail. I see it being discontinued by next year, March 2014. 

[BrosBeforeGardenTools]

The free-to-try game service means that people shouldn't have to buy games to try them. The results don't surprise me, lol.

[Blake]

Wait, this lady is saying that it's okay that barely ANYONE has spent any money on a game?

[Nintyfan86]

This is a fantastic example of how market speculation can lead to a complete waste of venture capital (they received $15 million or so. Luckily this should be a rather small part of the firm's portfolio). How these games were not ad supported from day one is beyond me. Let me put it another way:

 

My business model involves 3rd parties, a platform that has already proven, with millions of examples, that there is a low conversion rate to sales. I conclude that my dependence on ports from this market without support from key players in this new market will be enough to change the conversion rate. I have effectively set myself, and my partners, up for failure. 

 

But wait, I have this 'rebel marketing' plan to sell customers. 

 

This is too funny. I think I should set up a Kickstarter to 'free our pizza', and offer to to giver all membership to the restaurant. I will force all of the pizza makers to give out 1 piece to each member, and no one has to buy anything after buying their $50.00 membership. Oh, and no limits, make the rounds once, and you can go again and again.

 

I know this is not a good comparison, but it illustrates the point.  A great idea plus horrific execution never works out. At least this lady got some press and the CEO title. Without drastic change, her shot in the business world is, well, shot. 

[DexterousGecko]

lol, "real" gaming dying my a$$. I'm so glad this is going to burn in a very very small fire. (note: I wish the best for the employees of the company ^^)

[Julio93]

I really don't think this is gonna work out.

[magiciandude]

LOL Flop.

[Ninty64X]

This is becoming a train wreck. I doubt it'll last a year on the market.

[Zok]

I think the Ouya would do fantastic if something like the Free-to-Play title Team Fortress 2 came along. Then this console that's heavily focused on free-to-try and play would make it.

But no, they just want to provide free stuff

[xile6]

I'm lost.
I thought free to play was free to play.
Only paying for upgrades.
Also thought alot of free to play have ads and that's how they made there money

[Nintyfan86]

I'm lost.
I thought free to play was free to play.
Only paying for upgrades.
Also thought alot of free to play have ads and that's how they made there money

Not in Ouya land. They were counting on a demographic being ticked off at the way things are and then switching. Sounds good in theory until you realize that you are ditching the IPs you love for indie games available elsewhere (outside of a handful). 

 

I like the premise, but the business end was not really thought out. The model crumbles without a 'rebel' fanbase supporting it. In short, it is not mass market. The initial funding, and a hopeful snowballing after would be the goal with their strategy. 

Edited by Nintyfan86, 27 July 2013 - 11:30 AM.

[Alph]

So, only 73% of Ouya customers haven't bought a game on the system? I wonder why.........

[grahamf]

And yet you'd be hard pressed to find a Nintendo fan that has not paid over $40 for games.

[TriplePower]

This thing is pointless in my opinion, I can play these casual side-scrollers on my tablet (if I had one).

[Desert Punk]

There are a huge number of consoles with far better games at a fraction of the price. This just seems to be a console for hobbyist developers and its really a very limited market. No one in the right mind is going to buy one who isn't a small scale developer as the games are generally awful and don't even compete with old consoles like Dreamcast for example. If you ar a developer though what is the point without customers to sell games too? Some of the Ouya games are soo awful on a technical level, nothing more than high res versions of poor ps1 games sometimes. Incredibly limited by low cpu resources, weak polygon output, small scale developers and small game size. 

[Goodtwin]

The free-to-try game service means that people shouldn't have to buy games to try them. The results don't surprise me, lol.

 

Exactly, unfortunately for the majority of games developed, demo's will likely cause more people to pass on their game than to buy it.  Ouya was always going to be full of shovelware, a free demo probably ensures than most of them sell practically no units.