-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Could Ouya take Wii's place next generation?
- Thread starter Dreamwriter
- Start date
Dreamwriter
Member
No, all games are free to play in some way or other, they aren't f2p games. That means all games must have some free aspect to them, such as a free demo where you pay a one time fee to unlock the full game.
It got $8 1/2 million, only needed $950,000 to become a real product. The one-time expenditure to produce a complex piece of electronics at a factory in China or Taiwan is $100,000 to $150,000 (with 60,000 pre-preorders that they already have the full money from, that one-time $150,000 cost is only $2.50 per $99 unit, though some people paid a lot more than $99). After that it's all parts, which they can easily do for well under $99 since they are using all off-the-shelf parts.
As for an ad campaign, their Kickstarter was a great start at marketing, because of all the records it broke and how many people forked over money for it (it's gonna start with a base of 60,000 owners 1 to 2 months before it even hits retail). And that was without spending a dime on marketing (well, they had to make that video...) And as for convincing stores to carry it, both Gamestop and Game have said they would carry it.
And don't forget that the founder worked at IGN so has a lot of contacts through them for marketing, and one of their consulant investors is Ed Fries, who was in charge of the XBox project at Microsoft. And the system and controller designer also has done design work for Herman Miller, PUMA, One Laptop per Child, Jawbone, MINI, See Better to Learn Better, General Electric, Swarovski, Samsung, Jimmyjane, and Prada. Their lead Engineer worked at Amazon, specifically working on the Kindle. So sure, nobody's heard of Boxer8 (the company behind Ouya), but their team is far from unknown.
If retailers pick it up it could have some success, not Wii success. However what about those mobile hand held consoles that had emulators on them and such, they didn't get off the ground. 32x or something. So why didn't they? Word of mouth, it was not well known and only hardcore geeks or gamers bought them. And they were not in stores to sell.
The Wii was the had to have gift replacing elmo for a year or two. That is what you have to do to beat the Wii any Christmas. That and oh no we are out of stock chit chat by holding back stock.
Now if Gamestop stocks it like they say they want to, and it get's in Walmart, and they sell gift cards for games beside them, then people will develop for it because people will have money to burn with the gift cards.
The Wii was the had to have gift replacing elmo for a year or two. That is what you have to do to beat the Wii any Christmas. That and oh no we are out of stock chit chat by holding back stock.
Now if Gamestop stocks it like they say they want to, and it get's in Walmart, and they sell gift cards for games beside them, then people will develop for it because people will have money to burn with the gift cards.
RiccochetJ
Gold Member
Ouya doesn't have a library of established mascots.
It's a fun idea. I'm looking forward to receiving mine! Every one of the big 3 easily has the capability of porting the most successful games to their platform. It's the business logic that Ouya has introduced that is fascinating.
It's a fun idea. I'm looking forward to receiving mine! Every one of the big 3 easily has the capability of porting the most successful games to their platform. It's the business logic that Ouya has introduced that is fascinating.
Trevelyan9999
Banned
My nephew who is 11 years old wants to buy one just because it's $99. I asked him, what about the games? All he said is that it didn't matter to him and that it must eventually get something.....WTF?
Does anyone think this thing will sell with the big boys?
Does anyone think this thing will sell with the big boys?
Visualante2
Member
You joke but I almost anticipate people begging for cute small games that make inventive use of the WiiU touch pad in lieu of third parties not making substantial use of it. iOS shovelware would be perfect.Sure! Whatever keeps the shovelware off of Wii U
Seriously, though, I don't think you can truly say a system has AAA games available on it because of onLive...
Well that's something but I guess this product will sell more in South America and developing markets. Maybe even India when Sony seems to have raised the price of software there.
SolidSnakex
Member
Getting attention through Kickstarter really isn't a big deal. Even Cheetahmen 2 managed to get fully funded, and that's a game that everyone knows is horrible. Ouya is going to be competing against new consoles from Sony, Nintendo and MS. All of them are going to be putting 10's of millions of dollars into marketing those consoles. How are they going to compete with that when they needed gamers to give them millions of dollars just so they could get them system off the ground?
Mysterious Stranger
Member
Helllll no
You need hundreds of millions of dollar to enter a market as a newcomer. Without proper marketing Ouya is sent to die, they are lucky to sell 100k units cause they don't have the money to market the thing. And then there is the question why one should buy such a thing. Its performance on paper is barely that of the original Xbox. Yeah, some people seem to think that tablet and smartphone games are gorgeous and console like yada yada yada. You're in for a really bad surprise once you start to play the same games on a 55" TV instead of a 4.5" screen.
One side of the fence - Mobile gaming will never take off, no good controls, the Wii will never sell well we want tradition controllers not some gimick, they don't have good enough graphics, cheap games destroy the industry, nothing good will come out for the iOS or Android...
The other side of the fence - We don't want locked into subscriptions, locked down hardware, ads on our paid for live services, 60 dollar games that are not that enjoyable that you must pay to play online, and then pay DLC to progress...
Everyone - We want cheap games, cheap hardware, no advertisements, and hardware we can do anything we want with
I think there is room for both sides of the fence, and therefore customers.
What is happening in Japan with consoles vs mobile gaming? How many play traditional major systems vs phone games I wonder?
The other side of the fence - We don't want locked into subscriptions, locked down hardware, ads on our paid for live services, 60 dollar games that are not that enjoyable that you must pay to play online, and then pay DLC to progress...
Everyone - We want cheap games, cheap hardware, no advertisements, and hardware we can do anything we want with
I think there is room for both sides of the fence, and therefore customers.
What is happening in Japan with consoles vs mobile gaming? How many play traditional major systems vs phone games I wonder?
michaelius
Banned
First it needs to be released 
AdventureRacing
Member
If anything i think Ouya will be a huge flop (at least compared to the other consoles).
Dreamwriter
Member
If that's your reason for wanting it, don't forget the $99 pricetag. Right now if you want to play an Android game on a TV at 1080p, you're gonna need a $600 tablet.
Trevelyan9999
Banned
After watching this video, I don't see a reason not to buy one: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console
It sounds interesting. If they lower the price to $50, I don't see it being that much of a risk to the consumer. The only issue is since everything is "free to play" I don't see how the big game developers would make any money on it. Indie developers could get noticed for making a good game but that's it.
Yeah but does Joe and Sue down the road know this? No. They are the ones buying the cheap tablets in drug stores because then they can say they bought a tablet. If this thing was in those stores they have a chance as people will be happy to buy a new gaming console.
Everyone seems to know people that didn't get the console they wanted. They got the one that was on sale and probably was already dead out the door. (Atari 7800 or Turbo Graphx16 instead of a NES) But parents buy things for kids even if they don't know what they are buying, Think of the crap games sold and bought for presents just on the whim. It was bought just that it is in the category, a tablet, a video game, a video game system.
If they can get this system into that category, and actually deliver to store shelves, then yeah it will take off.
The other recent failed systems, NeoGeo and 3DO, did they make it to the major retailers or stay in the video game specialty stores? I think they stayed specialty only and the systems that went into major stores at that time Sears, Kmart, Walmart, they sold.
Have you people not heard of Google before?
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
What a ridiculous concept.
This thing is not going to be ultra-successful. I'm still skeptical that it's even going to launch and have real support.
This thing is not going to be ultra-successful. I'm still skeptical that it's even going to launch and have real support.
I mean, I'm just buying it because I hate myself and it's a video game thing. I mean, is there really a want to even play Android games on the TV? If it's out there then hey, good on them, but I just don't see it.
If I can play that new Shadowrun game on this then I'd be happy though. That'd be cool.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
Why the hell would I want to play an Android game on my TV? Seriously.
One issue I am not sure how they will resolve, without maybe special drivers or emulation, is the controller support on Android games. Unless the games are updated just for Android. If you use a bluetooth keyboard and mouse with a phone and Android games, the games are always "aware" of the keyboard for WASD movement. (minecraft) I'm sure they figured that out before the whole funding thing they kickstarted but it is something I have been wondering.
Dynamite Shikoku
Congratulations, you really deserve it!
Nobody outside of the internet is going to buy one of these
metalslimer
Member
Uh...no. I don't even see how this appeals to anyone let alone a Wii like success.
You don't think kids want to? Do you know how many play simple games on their phones and would love to enjoy the experience with others? Try sharing the experience trying to hug a 4 inch screen. Then let them play it on a big screen. There is an audience, it just has to be delivered properly. Honestly it would be like have XBLA games on your phone, and asking why the hell would I want to play that on my TV. I don't see a difference. It is still mobile vs console gaming preferences.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
No, I don't think kids want to. I think they want to play them on their mobile devices, because that's the only thing that really makes those games appealing--the fact that they are on a mobile device.
Where does the N-Gage fall in that?
Ban Puncher
Member
Well do some prefer to play games on their phone when they could play games on a 50 inch TV and 300 dollar plus console? Yes. Why is this? Simple straight forward games that you can jump in and out of and they are cheap so they can have more games.
I really think to some people phone games are like when people played NES games when that system was out, but most all games are less than 10 dollars! They don't care so much about the graphics, but want to have some fun and at a price they can play a lot of different games. Why rent a game when you can download and buy one from your home for the same or cheaper price? Why get gamefly when for 15 dollars, the rental of 2 games a month, you can buy one blockbuster game each month?
soxinthebox
Member
Could the PSP take the PSP's place next generation?
N-Gage---------------Linux-OUYA------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Wii
NemesisPrime
Banned
boiled goose
good with gravy
Wii Sports
Wii sports Resort
Wii Play
Wii fit
Wii fit plus
New super mario bros Wii
Mario kart Wii
Just dance series
All near or over 20m sold WW.
Software drives hardware... so probably not.
Wii sports Resort
Wii Play
Wii fit
Wii fit plus
New super mario bros Wii
Mario kart Wii
Just dance series
All near or over 20m sold WW.
Software drives hardware... so probably not.
I completely disagree with your reasons why Wii was so successful. Gamecube was cheap. Wii still sold at ridiculous prices on Ebay. XBLA/PSN are brimming with quality games for "casual gamers" and retro classics.
The reason why Wii was so successful was Wii Sports + Wii Fit + an incredible marketing campaign. Anything else was icing on the cake in terms of success.
Dreamwriter
Member
What you're missing is the fact that the Ouya will NOT run all Android games. It won't support Google Play, it will have its own store, and games will have to be built specifically for Ouya to run on it without rooting it. And as such, any game released on Ouya will work with its controller.
Note that they aren't trying to keep people from rooting it - it will in fact come with instructions for how to do so, and unroot it afterwards since the Ouya store and games won't run on a rooted Ouya - but they also aren't going to make any effort to allow Android games to work on it without alteration.
It's targeted towards both mainstream gamers and hackers. Whether it will hit those targets is another question entirely, and part of the point of this thread, but the company definitely is trying to get mainstream gamers as their main customers.
It probably won't be as successful as the Wii was. We're forgetting just how big of a hit it was. Nevertheless, I expect the Ouya to do well. None of the competing consoles have bothered to make a low-cost option, leaving a very large hole in their lineup. FFS, PS3 is getting more expensive, not less now. Ouya has quite a lot of room to breath.
It will also launch in a rare moment in time where all of the traditional console makers are waning pretty badly. It isn't exactly facing a juggernaut of competition in the form of Sony or MS. In fact those companies are close to fighting for their lives, or at the very least extremely distracted by much more pressing issues. Whether Ouya succeeds or not, I don't expect the existing companies to attempt to fight it in its own space.
It will also launch in a rare moment in time where all of the traditional console makers are waning pretty badly. It isn't exactly facing a juggernaut of competition in the form of Sony or MS. In fact those companies are close to fighting for their lives, or at the very least extremely distracted by much more pressing issues. Whether Ouya succeeds or not, I don't expect the existing companies to attempt to fight it in its own space.