Jubenhimer
Member
Ouya has become an infamous joke in the gaming market. A Crowdfunded project that set records at the time, turned out to be a flimsy, poorly designed, and poorly managed product that quickly died. Ouya had an interesting idea behind it. A console that was created by a company independent from the big 3 designed to cater to the emerging market of indie games. As always with products like this though, the idea is more interesting than what we actually got. I actually think a platform like the Ouya could work in this day and age. The Platform market is beginning to fragment with systems like Nintendo Switch and Stadia going after specialized, undeserved markets rather than challenging Sony and Microsoft at their own game. But it needs to avoid the mistakes made with Ouya both is software and hardware, such as...
1.) Better build quality - Ouya was notorious for its cheap feeling. A crowdfunded console obviously isn't going to be as durable as one from the big boys, so Ouya suffered from poor build quality and laggy inputs. If you want to do it again, get the budget to build hardware that actually feels like its built for gaming.
2.) Avoid the reliance on Mobile games - Another big problem with the Ouya was its heavy reliance on games from mobile devices. With its Open nature, and OS being an Android fork, the storefront was flooded with mobile games. I mentioned before that mobile games have a place, but only on mobile devices. Nobody buys a console just to play a home version of Candy Crush. Focus on games that were made with console gaming in mind. That's not to say you need to get a bunch of AAA titles, but don't put so much of your promotion on Shadowgun.
3.) Get some exclusives, or at least make your console stand out more - Ouya had no games. Okay, not literally, but 99% of what you could play on it, you could find a better version of on other platforms. For this console, focus on trying to get exclusive games in addition to ports, Ouya tried this, but failed hard. In addition, focus on finding out what your platform could add to your version of the game that other platforms can't. The Switch is filled with ports for example yes, but its mobile nature and control options allow games to feel unique on it, plus it has enough exclusives and at least console exclusives to balance out its deluge of ports. So even if you could find a game elsewhere, the Switch still brings something new to the table. Ouya offered nothing to games that couldn't have been done elsewhere, so nobody wanted to buy games on it for that reason. Speaking of which.
4.) Nix the Free-to-try feature - Free-to-try for every game sounds like a nice idea on paper, but in practice, its an absolute sales killer. What actually happened was that most Ouya players decided to just use the Free Trial feature to play the games they want for a while, without spending a dime on anything. If you want to allow developers to release demos, that's fine, but don't mandate a Free-Trial requirement for all games, that just leads to disaster.
5.) Curate the damn store - Another problem with Ouya is the same problem that plagues mobile devices. There is no quality control. Ouya just let any and every garbage onto its platform with no way of sorting it. Shovelware is unavoidable, I get it, any successful console is going to be plagued with cheaply made crap. But you can at least do a better job highlighting the good games.
6.) Get a better first party strategy - Rather than traditional First Party development, Ouya opted to run something called the "Free-the-Games" fund. An over-glorified charity that gives indie studios with a Kickstarter, funding for developing and finishing their game, in exchange for timed exclusivity. As you know this ended badly as many developers were finding loopholes to cheat the system. "Free the Games" was more of a Virtue Signalling publicity stunt than a viable strategy. So instead, just focus on being an indie-focused First party publisher, not unlike that of Devolver Digital. Find games and studios you think have the best talent, give them a budget, and market them as first party games. Hell, even let them keep the IP in most cases.
In general, a console focused entirely on indie games, could actually work, and give other plaforms with indies a run for their money. But the Ouya is exhibit A of what not to do if anybody tries this concept again in the future.
1.) Better build quality - Ouya was notorious for its cheap feeling. A crowdfunded console obviously isn't going to be as durable as one from the big boys, so Ouya suffered from poor build quality and laggy inputs. If you want to do it again, get the budget to build hardware that actually feels like its built for gaming.
2.) Avoid the reliance on Mobile games - Another big problem with the Ouya was its heavy reliance on games from mobile devices. With its Open nature, and OS being an Android fork, the storefront was flooded with mobile games. I mentioned before that mobile games have a place, but only on mobile devices. Nobody buys a console just to play a home version of Candy Crush. Focus on games that were made with console gaming in mind. That's not to say you need to get a bunch of AAA titles, but don't put so much of your promotion on Shadowgun.
3.) Get some exclusives, or at least make your console stand out more - Ouya had no games. Okay, not literally, but 99% of what you could play on it, you could find a better version of on other platforms. For this console, focus on trying to get exclusive games in addition to ports, Ouya tried this, but failed hard. In addition, focus on finding out what your platform could add to your version of the game that other platforms can't. The Switch is filled with ports for example yes, but its mobile nature and control options allow games to feel unique on it, plus it has enough exclusives and at least console exclusives to balance out its deluge of ports. So even if you could find a game elsewhere, the Switch still brings something new to the table. Ouya offered nothing to games that couldn't have been done elsewhere, so nobody wanted to buy games on it for that reason. Speaking of which.
4.) Nix the Free-to-try feature - Free-to-try for every game sounds like a nice idea on paper, but in practice, its an absolute sales killer. What actually happened was that most Ouya players decided to just use the Free Trial feature to play the games they want for a while, without spending a dime on anything. If you want to allow developers to release demos, that's fine, but don't mandate a Free-Trial requirement for all games, that just leads to disaster.
5.) Curate the damn store - Another problem with Ouya is the same problem that plagues mobile devices. There is no quality control. Ouya just let any and every garbage onto its platform with no way of sorting it. Shovelware is unavoidable, I get it, any successful console is going to be plagued with cheaply made crap. But you can at least do a better job highlighting the good games.
6.) Get a better first party strategy - Rather than traditional First Party development, Ouya opted to run something called the "Free-the-Games" fund. An over-glorified charity that gives indie studios with a Kickstarter, funding for developing and finishing their game, in exchange for timed exclusivity. As you know this ended badly as many developers were finding loopholes to cheat the system. "Free the Games" was more of a Virtue Signalling publicity stunt than a viable strategy. So instead, just focus on being an indie-focused First party publisher, not unlike that of Devolver Digital. Find games and studios you think have the best talent, give them a budget, and market them as first party games. Hell, even let them keep the IP in most cases.
In general, a console focused entirely on indie games, could actually work, and give other plaforms with indies a run for their money. But the Ouya is exhibit A of what not to do if anybody tries this concept again in the future.
