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Ouya Dropping 'Free-to-Play' Requirement

Posted by Soulskill on from the free-as-in-pay-me dept.

itwbennett writes: "One of the Ouya micro-consoles's selling points has been that you can sample every game for free. That requirement is going away soon. In a recent blog post, Ouya's Bob Mills said, 'In the coming weeks, we're going to let devs choose if they want to charge up front for their games. Now they'll be able to choose between a free-to-try or paid model.' Good news for developers, perhaps not as good for customers. 'Maybe this new policy will attract new developers that can offer something compelling enough to be a system seller,' writes blogger Peter Smith."

16 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. Dumb move... by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They are a barely alive gaming platform and they are starting remove features they were built upon...

    Not smart.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    1. Re:Dumb move... by SirAstral · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Maybe you operate from a foreign dictionary.

      "Requirements" and "Features" are very different things.

      In regards to this article I am focused on pay vs free.

      They never should have made this a requirement... I want open, so that people can charge nothing OR what ever the heck they like!

    2. Re:Dumb move... by Lumpy · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'm guessing you know nothing about OUYA. they started this as a selling point for the whole platform. It was one of the underlying features ans selling points of the platform.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    3. Re:Dumb move... by LoRdTAW · · Score: 3, Informative

      Sometimes you have to compromise. They spent an awful lot of time working on this project. And I am sure they don't want to let the ship sink because of past ideologies they held dear. If it brings them more devs and gets the platform rolling, so be it.

    4. Re:Dumb move... by SirAstral · · Score: 2

      A "Requirement" is a requirement. Does not and never will be the same as a "Feature" no matter how much you wish it to be or if you fall for someone "Advertising" it as such either! This is more akin to false advertising not feature removal! Removing Linux from PS3 was "Feature" removal! Allowing devs to now charge for their games is more of a "FEATURE ADD" if it did not exist beforehand.

      There is a reason we produce something called a dictionary.
      To help people to call things what they should and should not!

  2. Awesome! by drunkennewfiemidget · · Score: 4, Informative

    When I was one of the first few hundred to sign up for their kickstarter and then received my unit well after I could have purchased it for the same price at Best Buy, I was done.

    Then, when it took them another 3-4 weeks to get me my other controller, I sold it on the Internet like I did the Ouya and first controller.

    I've heard nothing but complaints about it, and now they're removing one of the only promises they've actually kept to this point.

    What a way to blow through millions of dollars. It'll be dead in a year. And I say good riddance.

    1. Re:Awesome! by netsentry · · Score: 2

      When I was one of the first few hundred to sign up for their kickstarter and then received my unit well after I could have purchased it for the same price at Best Buy, I was done.

      Then, when it took them another 3-4 weeks to get me my other controller, I sold it on the Internet like I did the Ouya and first controller.

      I've heard nothing but complaints about it, and now they're removing one of the only promises they've actually kept to this point.

      What a way to blow through millions of dollars. It'll be dead in a year. And I say good riddance.

      +1 for similar experiences. I was also early on the Kickstarter, and my model showed up with a bad HDMI solder. When I found out how long it would take to get a replacement, and that I couldn't walk into the aforementioned big box store and swap it out, I decided to fix the solder myself. Then it worked...but the controller rattled because of a broken tab, which would occasionally cause a button to stick as well as just being purely annoying. Build quality control did not seem to be a priority. I never did return that nor did I sell it -- opting instead to throwing it away. Partially out of laziness and partially out of spite. I like to support the little guy, but when the little guy has millions to invest into a project I would expect a million dollar project. 2

  3. Good news for me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Speaking from personal experience, "Free to play" games generally are not even close to free. It's pay to play, rent your EXISTING equipment, pay to win, pay for upgrades, the list goes on. So for me this makes the platform more appealing.

    I like my games to be 1 transaction (The purchase) and it's done. Expansion packs are okay too.

    1. Re:Good news for me. by Laxori666 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's not free-to-play though it's free-to-try, as in, a demo. Like the shareware of old. They would require each game to have a shareware version, but now they have removed this requirement.

    2. Re:Good news for me. by CastrTroy · · Score: 2

      I think the general idea is that the game had to be free to try, but not that it had to be free to play the whole thing. This is actually one of the aspects that I really like about the Microsoft App store (for my Surface 2 - not pro). Many apps have a free trial period where you can download and try them out for free, so you can decide if they are really worth the money. I've used this feature more than a few times and often this is what gets them the sale. If an app doesn't have a free trial, I'm very cautious about buying the app, because all sales are final. I like the idea of pushing all apps to have a free trial period, so that people can get a sense of what the app is really about.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
  4. Fundamental problem with OUYA by GoodNewsJimDotCom · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Besides the clunky controller, and the chicken and the egg problem of no developers...

    The main problem with the OUYA is that it does nothing you can't get from a cell phone plugged into a TV with bluetoothed controllers.

    Everyone has a cell phone, so the OUYA just seems redundant.

    --
    God spoke to me
    1. Re:Fundamental problem with OUYA by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Well, assuming that you have a cell phone that matches the Ouya in power. And that you like having to tether it to your TV every time you want to play a game.

      Also, while there's no fundamental reason why developers couldn't release a game that is optimized for controller play on a TV that runs on your standard Android phone, in practice that is not what has happened. They seem to be hoping to change that by allowing Ouya games to run on other Android platforms, but that's still on the horizon.

      There were some serious mistakes made in the design and marketing for Ouya, but I like mine and have bought a fair number of games. It's not "redundant."

      --

      How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
    2. Re:Fundamental problem with OUYA by Svartalf · · Score: 2

      Heh... This presumes two things:

      * You've got a high-end ($700-900 retail...) cell phone that you're willing to use for this purpose.
      * Said high-end phone doesn't bake itself running continuous duty at peak clock.

      The Ouya and MadCatz MOJO are dedicated set-top devices- with fans and all. They're not designed for mobile service and are designed to actually put out peak operation continuously. A cell phone's not designed for that abuse. It can only really do it part of the time- and they're expecting you to replace the thing within 2-4 years max. The whole premise you espouse will make Samsung and the like *VERY* happy and you very poor...knock yourself out.

      --
      I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
  5. Ouya's killer app....where is it? by raydobbs · · Score: 2

    The big problem with the Ouya is that there is no really good exclusive out there to show people what the console can really be pushed to do. So you have a lot of half-hearted ports from other platforms, pretty much limiting the sales of the product to people who haven't purchased any recent computer, game console, phone or tablet (very few indeed).

    Frankly, Ouya needs to pick a product that is distinctly their market - nurture and help it be THE GAME on the Ouya to own, a reason to buy the console and controllers. Really showcasing what the system can do with the hardware its got will bring developers looking to 'one-up' that product and it really would have a shot.

    Right now - its a no-mans land of retreads and badly written indie games. And I can say this as someone looking to release a product on the Ouya.

    1. Re:Ouya's killer app....where is it? by RKThoadan · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Towerfall is probably it's best known game. It made Ars Technica's top 10 of 2013 and has a sequel in the works for OUYA, PS4 and PC. I haven't played it myself though. I use mine almost exclusively for XBMC (and am perfectly happy with it)

      I definitely think this is a move in the right direction. I could see the retro-game market really explode on OUYA. I'd spend a few bucks each for some ports of SNES/Genesis era games easily.

  6. Price and search by tepples · · Score: 3, Informative

    The main problem with the OUYA is that it does nothing you can't get from a cell phone plugged into a TV with bluetoothed controllers.

    It's cheaper than buying a new unlocked Android phone with HDMI out (which not all of them have) and buying such a Bluetooth controller. Or are you assuming that people already carry an Android phone with HDMI out? Besides, does Google Play Store yet support searching for games that support a Bluetooth controller? Support for the OUYA controller is a given on the OUYA store. Games on Google Play Store are more likely to support the touch screen and leave Bluetooth controllers as an afterthought.

    Everyone has a cell phone

    I have a cell phone, but it's not one that runs Android. I can't seem to figure out how to get any games for my Audiovox 8610 on Virgin Mobile other than the blackjack game and the Hansel and Gretel-themed Columns clone called Magic Hexa that came with it.