Nosebleed Posted April 30, 2015 Posted April 30, 2015 The Android based micro console that a lot of people were pretty hyped up about some years back which manged to raise 8 million dollars on kickstarter and even more millions from other investors has been struggling hard with its debt and it seems like unless someone buys off the debt/company, they're pretty much dead. This is quite sad to see happen but clearly shows how devastating the console market is and it makes me question wether or not android based consoles will ever reach some form of success. The OUYA now has over 1,000 apps and 40,000 developers it seems, so it could be building something bigger, but financial struggle really struck hard for them so we may never see what it could become. What are your thoughts on this incident? Do you think it was destined to fail from the start? And more broadly, do you think that different types of consoles simply can't survive in a market already dominated by the big guys? Source: https://fortune.com/2015/04/28/exclusive-gaming-startup-ouya-needs-to-find-a-buyer-quickly/ Quote
Getsuya Posted April 30, 2015 Posted April 30, 2015 No big exclusives and it's competing with handheld mobile devices that play all the same games but portable. It'd be like a company trying to base their financial success off the Vita TV. Except even worse than that because most people already own a device, like a phone or tablet, that plays Android games. Android games have always been optimized for short, portable play and aren't really suited for sitting down and playing on the big screen when you could just buy a normal console and play new, exclusive home console games on that instead. OUYA was pretty great for emulators... in fact I think a lot of people made the joke that OUYA should just advertise itself as an emulator machine since tons of people just used it for that. Quote
Deep Blue Posted April 30, 2015 Posted April 30, 2015 Well I think the problem was the hardware of the console, even emulating some N64 is a problem...is not really strong. It wasn't competing with the xbo360 and ps3, not with some good emulator systems out there (like the Raspberry pi for example), and most of the apps were the same ones of tablets and smartphones...it just didn't fit in any market. I backed it when it was on kickstarter and i dont regret it, I'm sad to see this happening. Quote
solidbatman Posted April 30, 2015 Posted April 30, 2015 You mean it wasn't already dead? Why would I buy a machine that can only run what my phone can run? And I can run those same things on my PC. Like, who were they marketing to? Just a mess Quote
Nosebleed Posted April 30, 2015 Author Posted April 30, 2015 This is interesting because NVIDIA who initially backed OUYA is now coming out with their own android based system that can supposedly run games at 4k 60fps which now makes me wonder if it will flop as well. Indeed the OUYA was kind of a pioneer in home android consoles, but the entire concept might not be bad if it's optimized properly, proper ports can be made to run on home consoles better than they would on mobile devices, the OS itself is able to handle such things with the proper hardware, i feel like the OUYA had the potential but it was kind of too ahead of the game for its own good and the hardware itself was too limited. Quote
Getsuya Posted April 30, 2015 Posted April 30, 2015 http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2013/06/26 Quote
Nosebleed Posted April 30, 2015 Author Posted April 30, 2015 http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2013/06/26 Quote
Getsuya Posted April 30, 2015 Posted April 30, 2015 I think the other thing was, at the time of the Kickstarter, an open console that anyone could make a game for was a really attractive idea. However, by the time it came out PSN, XBLA, Steam Greenlight and all the other indie platforms had really opened their doors so the OUYA never really had a corner on the indie market like people thought it would. Quote
Deep Blue Posted April 30, 2015 Posted April 30, 2015 you can't upgrade the hardware and the console is expensive for what it does, not to mention the controllers are really expensive too and bad :/ Quote
firecat Posted April 30, 2015 Posted April 30, 2015 this explains why it didnt work, at all https://youtu.be/Ggjt_O151aU?t=3m36s (its set in 3:36 so you dont have to watch it all. Quote
Narcosis Posted April 30, 2015 Posted April 30, 2015 The whole console market is a decaying mess. The only viable alternative nowadays are handhelds. The most funny thing is that it's the console creators themselves who made that happen. Oh, how I love a good irony. PS. Consoles are shit anyway. Quote
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