http://www.ouya.tv/developers/
http://www.ouya.tv/game-developers-how-to-get-started-on-ouya-now/
So it appears the OUYA devkit is gonna cost you $800. How do you feel? let it all out…
Fuck it >.> seriously.
1 Like
Heheh.
uh?
the question is…why would we need a sdk? except for the hardware itself?
from the link above :
“OUYA’s board is powered by an NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor. So, if you’re on a kamikaze mission to ship the first ever game for OUYA and can’t wait to receive your dev unit to begin testing your game’s (or games’) performance, just pick up any Tegra 3 Android tablet… That’ll give you an accurate representation as to how your game will perform on an OUYA.”
So it looks like it works like any other android system…
I don’t get why they do this…“Guys!!! give us 800$ to be able to make free games on our hardware!!!”
Also apparently only in game purchase is allowed…and they have their own API…hence the dev kit I guess…
pffff…
One can read this a few different ways:
- “We don’t expect to make much on actual sales of the console because ‘indie’ consoles based on standard hardware won’t actually sell.”
- “We want you to pay so that you feel like you are getting something and are more likely to follow through.”
- “We say we’re ‘indie’ but we don’t really want people experimenting unless they are serious… thus hobbling a primary driver in the ‘indie’ scene…”
I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt and think (2) but really I think (1) because I’ve already stated my opinion that this console will never fly.
http://hub.jmonkeyengine.org/groups/development-discussion-jme3/forum/topic/ouya-jmonkey-in-the-future/#post-182453
Hmm. The way I read it this is a “first off the production line” early-adopter-tax. Essentially if you want your game to be one of the “launch” games you need to pay your $800 to get in there first.
Once the console has launched and all the kickstarter orders have filled I’d expect this cost to come down a LOT but the potential benefits of being a “launch” game are actually significant as there will be all those new players with their shiny new console looking for some game…and a much smaller pool of games for them to choose from.
If I had room in the development schedule Zero Sep would certainly be investigating this…although I agree with a lot of pspeed’s scepticism and feel it too so I’m not going to say more than “investigate”.
So, either they will need a lot of good launch titles at launch or they will need to open access to the android app store or something. Or both.
(all "you"s below are the “royal you” and no one in particular)
So, you spend $800 and convert a game to android… or as Remy suggests, just convert the game to android and get it in the app store. If it turns out the $800 buys you an exclusive launch title spot then you’ll at least have your game ready already.
…which implies that it makes no sense for anyone to pay $800 right now.
My suspicion is that the margins are so tight on the hardware that they cannot afford to run their services on the projected revenue and so must seek sourcing elsewhere. Since the need for services is based on developer uptake then it is logical to roll it into a dev kit fee. No console-specific exclusives, no need for APIs and services.
Then again, I’m still trying to figure out why anyone would buy this thing. It’s so far out of my scope that nothing else makes sense either. Is there an official street price for it yet?
Well the kickstarter ones come in at 95$ so that’s a good starting guide for the price they are thinking of.
Considering the most expensive parts of a phone are the screen/batteries/etc I think they can make a healthy profit at these margins. For example:
http://www.isuppli.com/Teardowns/News/pages/Samsung-Galaxy-Note-101-Aims-for-Higher-Margins-than-iPad-IHS-iSuppli-Teardown-Reveals.aspx
That shows a BOM of $283, however $115 of that is the screen and camera, $30 the power management and battery, $45 the memory (which can be replaced with cheaper, more power intensive, but faster), etc.
So I think it’s achievable to get their BOM down under $100…although you do then have to wonder what margin they will achieve. Maybe they plan to sell the consoles at very low margins though and make the money back from their store margins.
And I thought paying $100 for an iOS developer kit was expensive! Fuck u OUYA!
I gotta say the idea of a indi console makes a part of me tingle, but the power of that console is weak and it could be improved, if improved you can ask for more cash for the console, charging the ppl less and the devs more is quite retarded, alot of devs will not be interested of paying so much money for a new console with no guarantee of a significant user count(community) and the ppl, why should they buy that if the console specification is very close to a tablet and, again, no guarantee of a interesting games(since the game devs are discouraged), this is like the ipad’s piano, that would kinda of have some success here. But these are the indy devs, for big shot companies the price is w/e.
Also with the currently new ps3 crack and from now on all ps3 games are basically free(a friend got to play ac3 from the first day it got launched on his old ps3 cracked console) big asses like EA or Ubisoft can make some games for this console, take wii for example >.> who actually owns one? mid 30 peeps and little kids. I could see it as a new wii.
Well considering they have a seed population of 60k sold just from the kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console
That’s not a bad starting market, it could definitely go either way.
I agree though, for any reasonably sized company $800 isn’t a lot. Reasonably sized companies though are going to be taking a hard look at the numbers to see if it’s worth investing time and money in before they do anything.
@zarch said:
Well considering they have a seed population of 60k sold just from the kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console
The way she talks makes me hit her >.> that trailer they have there is really annoying and i just love how they say "independent developer friendly" repeatedly and repeatedly and on and on and on, "now pay us 800$ and u'll be as indi as you like". Nah seriously since it's android i think jme has a free space there.
@zarch said:
Well considering they have a seed population of 60k sold just from the kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console
That's not a bad starting market, it could definitely go either way.
I agree though, for any reasonably sized company $800 isn't a lot. Reasonably sized companies though are going to be taking a hard look at the numbers to see if it's worth investing time and money in before they do anything.
The mobile market is not like the console market. Prices are very low, and you make money only if you have a massive amount of customers. Especially on android where users seem to be less inclined to pay.
60k potential users is just far too low.
The in app payment economic model is reputed to be the most efficient, but the transaction are of around 10 to 20 cents....It means you need at least 4000 transactions to just refund your dev kit investment....that's a 6% cover of the market....with 0$ in your pocket yet...
I'm not an economist...but that raises big fat red alerts for me.
Also plenty of users hate in app payment, and claiming to have a "free gaming platform" that requires in-app payment is just gonna drive a lot of people away.
IMO i'd be CEO of a reasonable sized company I would not really consider investing on a hardware with 60k of potential users for 800$ compared to the Android phone market with millions of potential users for 25$. I would even consider buying a mac and pay the 90$ fee for the dev licence because of the huge potential of the ios market.
Even the PS3 dev kit is around 2k$ isn't it? I'd rather invest into this....
I don't know if it can work we'll see, but that's just one more disappointing and frustrating point about this Ouya thing.
Yes, phones people get for free with a contract and actually don’t care too much unless its an iPhone 
Buying a console means a) standing all the taunting from PC fanboys and b) making a personal decision about the platform.
@zarch said:
Well the kickstarter ones come in at 95$ so that's a good starting guide for the price they are thinking of.
I think we are meant to think that... on the other hand, you want to give the kickstarter donators some advantage. I expect the price to be higher than that. But for the sake of argument, let's assume it's $100. (I'd actually be surprised if it is less than $125. $150 would not surprise me when reality hits them.)
You can already get small devices that plug into your TV and run Android... the ones with decent graphics are around $90-$100 and up... and don't include a game controller.
50,000 is not a lot of potential customers for a game dev shop... teeny tiny considering the average penetration a game will see. But moreover, it's not enough to run a hardware company, either... especially if the margins are tight. Maybe in 6 months they can run another kickstarter to keep themselves funded.
Considering you can already plug a Kindle Fire HD (etc) into a TV and that this hardware will keep leap frogging every year, the console model at this level is totally busted.
I bought my PS3 because there were games I could play on it that I couldn't play anywhere else and because at the time the graphics were spectacular. This console would have none of that. The graphics will be sub-par as compared to even this generation's consoles and no developer in their right mind is going to make an OUYA exclusive for 50,000 potential users. So any games written for this, I'll probably be able to play on something else.
I'd like to be wrong but the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that this project is a good example of how much money wishful thinking can generate. ;)
@normen said:
Yes, phones people get for free with a contract and actually don't care too much unless its an iPhone ;) Buying a console means a) standing all the taunting from PC fanboys and b) making a personal decision about the platform.
As a PC gaming fanboy a pledge to always taunt you for playing a crippled version of BF3 :)
@sbook said:
As a PC gaming fanboy a pledge to always taunt you for playing a crippled version of BF3 :)
q.e.d. ;)
Launching a new console trying to indie developers that the SDK costs $800, I’m sorry, but you are doing it wrong.
Edit:
“In fact, every OUYA is a development kit. You won’t need to buy expensive SDKs — every console comes with all the tools you’ll need to make a great game. And, we’ve removed the hassles and hurdles common to console publishing — submit and publish apps to our game store in the same way Android app submission happens today.”
Ok, you just need $100
So what? the 800$ dev kit fee is a fake?
@nehon said:
So what? the 800$ dev kit fee is a fake?
From my reading it looks like you can pay $800 to get a dev kit in January instead of having to wait until the March launch.
That makes a little more sense since the dev units are probably pretty close to one-off productions. Whether it's a good investment or not is still up for argument but I can see why they'd charge $800 for that, at least.
Pre-Order OUYA Development Kit
Expected Delivery: January 2013
Ask and you shall receive.
One special OUYA DEV console, two controllers and our ODK.
Test your games and apps on OUYA hardware before the March 2013 worldwide release!
Each OUYA Dev Kit is specially designed, custom made, hand assembled and only available until December 31, 2012.
Which can be interpreted a few ways but given the recent posts I'm inclined to think it reads as paying for "early access".