The [a]list daily spoke with Ouya's CEO Julie Uhrman about the Ouya's future, the prospect of direct competition from Amazon and Apple, and how Ouya is marketing its console in a noisy retail environment.
On the new consoles:
The launches of the PS4 and Xbox One attracted enormous media attention, but did that affect Ouya? “It didn't affect us in any way beyond what we anticipated, which was a lot more attention and excitement for video games on the television,” Uhrman said. “We saw a lift in our sales for the holidays, despite new platforms in the space. At the end of the day, these were exactly what we expected them to be: Very expensive boxes that have a lot of features and functionality, with limited choice of content for gamers that is also really expensive.”
On the expansion of the Ouya platform:
Ouya's platform strategy is evolving. As the mobile hardware that the Ouya is based around improves rapidly, it's reasonable to expect improvements in the Ouya hardware as well. The downside is this would fragment the user base, as some would have more powerful devices than others. It's a problem, but Ouya's plans go beyond that issue. “We will always have an Ouya reference device. Think of it similar to the Kindle strategy, or Google's Android itself,” Uhrman explained. “Ouya is more than just that reference device, it's an ecosystem that really can live on other people's devices. One of the focuses this year is Ouya finding ways to bring games to more people, regardless of where they play.”
Then Uhrman dropped a bombshell. “One thing you'll start to see is Ouya on other people's devices,” she said. “For us, we'll always have a minimum set of standards so the games will work well on our device as well as others. It's the hardware plus an ecosystem. If you think about the traditional game consoles, they're custom hardware and custom chips. To get those games, you have to buy a box for hundreds of dollars. We've always wanted to open that up. We started with a $99 box, but we always wanted to create a console platform that can live on other people's devices. We just knew it was going to take us a little bit of time to get it ready. Now we think the software is good enough, it's ready to be embedded in other people's devices. We actually started having some of these conversations during CES, and the takeup was so great that we're really jumping into the strategy with both feet this year.”
On Amazons and Apples rumored foray into the gaming market:
That's an interesting expansion of the strategic vision for Ouya, but the company needs to be aggressive. Both Amazon and Apple are rumored to be launching direct competition to Ouya this year, but Uhrman's not worried. “It wouldn't be a legitimate product category if Amazon or Apple didn't try to compete in it,” Uhrman said. “We think that there is no better proof to our category that it's worth pursuing than Amazon deciding to go into it. We remain focused on being about games first, and changing the way console gaming works.”
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