After a Few Months, the Ouya Game Console Draws Mixed Reactions

Back in June, the Android-based Ouya gaming console launched and quickly sold out, leading many to believe that it would become a leading console. Since then, there has been much discussion about whether there is a solid game development ecosystem surrounding the Ouya. Founders of the console have recently noted that 25,000 developers are committed to its platform, but critics have questioned how actively those developers are working on games.

Now Gamasutra has done a fairly comprehensive roundup of comments from actual developers about the platform. There are a lot of positive comments.

As I noted earlier this week, the open source and Linux communities have been waiting for the true "killer game" that could drive an open console to success.  And Linus Torvalds was vocal this week about how good for the Linux community SteamOS and devices based on it can be.

Developers for the Ouya console have a mix of positive and negative comments. "Sales of Hidden in Plain Sight have tailed off drastically since the initial [Ouya] Kickstarter units all shipped en masse, which isn't surprising," one developer told Gamasutra. "But the initial burst of sales have netted me a few thousand dollars, which has exceeded my expectations."

"It's not our worst platform," another said, "but it pales in comparison to the others as you can see in our 1 year postmortem we released 2 months ago."

And there's the rub. Just as in mobile app development for phones, developers are always comparing what they can make on one platform to what they can make on other ones. Ouya's team has confirmed to Engadget that they will deliver an updated console every year, silencing many critics who wondered if the small company could keep up with the bigger console makers when it comes to updated hardware. So there will be more capabilities in the console. And, the $99 price is low.

There have been others who have tried and failed at doing open source game platforms, but Ouya has a remarkable media following and solid funding behind it. Still, after a few months in the market, the console needs some truly compelling games if it is to succeed.