In the wake of a phenomenally successful Kickstarter, Ouya’s CEO talks about future plans.
Ouya’s Kickstarter is finally over, and it ended with a bang. The Ouya team aimed for $950,000; it got over $8.5 million. In the wake of this achievement Ouya’s CEO, Julie Urhman, has talked about what the future may hold for the little console that could. She’s naturally a little cautious, and doesn’t want to be seen as “Charlie Sheen on a media blitz” – as she describes it – which is why Ouya hasn’t revealed many details about their business model and launch plans. However, Ouya does have a lot of things to do in the coming years and, if Urhman has it her way, they may include an Ouya TV.
“We are truly excited and blown away by the support: it’s amazing how well an open, affordable, accessible games console has resonated with gamers and developers,” said Urhman about the response to Ouya’s Kickstarter campaign. “People started asking ‘if this is possible, why hasn’t it been done before by a large corporation?’ But sometimes the simplest ideas are staring you in the face, and they escape people.” According to Urhman Ouya’s future focus will be on building a great gaming ecosystem, which can then be used to create something that may not need a console to play.
“Right now we are focused on building a great business around gamers and games, and right now we have to be a console connected to a television. That’s where the biggest reach and biggest audience is.” But the future could be far more interesting. “Who knows what the future holds? We’ll have the best suite of content, and the best controller on the market…”
That’s how Urhman sees the Ouya; not as a $99 box, but as a means of capturing a market. Once that market belongs to Ouya, anything’s possible. There’s no reason to keep it in a box, not when TV technology is getting better every day. Even Urhman admits “Ouya could be in a TV … We always believed that the console would die away and become a chipset on the television. But you still need a great, responsive controller and a gaming ecosystem with great developers and great games.”
The coming months will show whether or not Ouya succeeds or fails. It has the funding, and it has everyone’s attention. If it can’t succeed with these resources at its disposal, then perhaps the project really was doomed from the start. Personally, I hope not; I’m beginning to like the little console that could.
Source: Guardian
