OUYA Is moving Beyond the Traditional Console
The OUYA platform is more than an Android console.
In a recent interview, OUYA CEO Julia Uhrman talks about the future of OUYA now that the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are on the market. She made a surprise statement that the platform is heading to devices other than the boxy little console. And because the company will always have a minimum set of standards, the games will work well on the OUYA console as well as other devices.
"It's the hardware plus an ecosystem," she says. "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," she adds. "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."
Uhrman acknowledged that Apple and Amazon are rumored to be entering the same market, and said it wouldn't be a legitimate product category if they weren't competing. "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," she says.
So what about the OUYA console itself? She said there will always be an OUYA reference device, pointing to Amazon's Kindle strategy and Google's Nexus line of devices. However, she also noted that OUYA is more than just the reference device: it's an ecosystem that really can live on other devices.
"One of the focuses this year is OUYA finding ways to bring games to more people, regardless of where they play," she says.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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antilycus aka " I suck at running a company and now want the easy money. I should've listened to my kickstarters from the start but instead I'll piss in their face"Reply -
WithoutWeakness Nobody wants a new gaming ecosystem. We already have Android, which OUYA runs on and was supposed to become more legitimized by OUYA. We want cheap hardware that is powerful enough to play the games we want to play on our TV's. Raspberry Pi is so popular because it provides the right hardware at the right price and they let the community build the ecosystem around it. OUYA needs to build the hardware and support it and then let developers and the community grow the ecosystem. The original OUYA was right in line with that vision when it was announced but after the delays and Kickstarter issues it was grossly outdated by the time it hit shelves. Build a new device with stronger, up-to-date hardware and get it into consumers' hands on time and for the right price and the ecosystem will develop around it.Reply -
DrBackwater I have utmost respect for ouya development team but sadly they will fall. I wish all best for them but with android being mainstream there's no hope in hell unless they build from linux. To many people entered this market and its sad ouya isn't capable being anything more than a 2$ store 100 games embedded phase.Reply