In our three part series on the Ouya console, we ask industry leaders in social, casual and mobile gaming if the surprising Kickstarter console can bridge the gap between core and casual, and successfully transition the Android OS to a living room entertainment device.
Part 3: Luis Ongil – Managing Director, Americas, GameDuell
What GameDuell does: Driven by over 170 employees and game enthusiasts stationed in Berlin and San Francisco, GameDuell has been figuring out ways to monetize high quality social and casual games since 2003. With games released globally in seven languages and over 12 million user plays each month, GameDuell offers its own in-house development in addition to harnessing over 200 distribution partners across its network.
Why OUYA could matter to GameDuell: The Android console’s M.O. seems well-aligned with GameDuell’s own development efforts, as the firm continues to assemble a powerful network of developers, targeting key markets of growth – as evidenced by the company’s current push into Amazon’s Android gaming expansion to Kindle Fire.
GameDuell excels at helping developers optimize for different devices and specs, getting games prepared to publish on major digital marketplaces, and accelerating their adoption and monetization. As they asses all new potentially viable platforms, GameDuell is keeping a careful eye on Ouya’s progress.
Gamesauce: What advantages do you see in an Android home console that offers a single hardware spec for developers, versus what’s typically offered on smartphones and tablets?
Luis: Well, there are many smartphone players that just aren’t pushing the devices to the level that they should be, or want to. Same goes for developers. A lot of users are comfortable with having a device they can bring home, then pass it over to the kids, let them have some fun – and that’s almost the extent of their relationship with games on the device.
GS: The Ouya could become a simple device you could let the kids play. It’s around the size of a Rubik’s Cube, and comes with a familiar twin stick controller that has a touchpad.
Right, so it’s a device that can probably be understood and used by a lot of people in the house. That’s a smart design.
GS: It should encourage a wide range of play preferences, but when you check out the Ouya promos, you see stuff like shooters, racing games, Madden, Minecraft, etcetera – pretty much all core-type games. Is it wise to focus on the expected core titles, when it’s also ripe for casual opportunities?
Right away you know it’s going to be a good match for core games, and that’s good. We play casual games very easily on the phones we own, and the target player has a need and desire to play those games, since he has a phone he already knows how to use. When you have a specific device to play certain types of games, introducing the other end of the spectrum may not be so easy.
Could I see people playing casual games on this Android console? Sure. If it’s there, part of your entertainment center, I can see mom coming in to play a quick game, or a father and son playing a game together. But you need to establish if you’re making a game for a phone, or this device.
GS: Right, you have important details like a twin stick analog controller to consider…
Exactly, so you test your games with gamepad support, you tweak the gameplay. You make sure the game is highly adapted for the household if it’s going to this device. Of course it’s very tough to devote those resources when the device hasn’t become large enough to be a focal point yet. It’s like the Kindle Fire wasn’t originally a focal point for game developers, and now it’s suddenly starting to be a great place for games.
GS: The Kindle Fire is a good example, actually, in terms of it being a unifying force in the Android environment – a target spec. Would you agree that one of the issues with Android game development tends to be fragmentation across varying device specs?
Absolutely – when it’s one device and one spec, it takes a lot of pressure off the team on different levels. One of the biggest advantages for us, using Kindle as an example, is the payment system. As developers, we can do the same experience that we do on iOS with payments, and it’s a great system for users, for payment security, and so forth.
Absolutely – when it’s one device and one spec, it takes a lot of pressure off the team on different levels.
GS: So you guys are actually starting to back a specific Android experience like the Fire.
We’re right in the process of Kindle Fire implementation and developing games for it, truly optimizing for Kindle Fire. We want to start moving more heavily into Android, and this is the platform with a fantastic payment scenario. So a lot of our QA and bug testing is going to focus purely on that device. The users of that device are precisely the target for casual games, so it makes a lot of sense.
GS: From your perspective, then, this is becoming your unified development environment for Android. And obviously a lot of other people are hopping onto the Kindle Fire platform. Can the Ouya assemble its own circle of dedicated third-party studios?
Certainly, if the Ouya reaches a very wide level of distribution, it will quickly become a platform that makes sense.
GS: The Kindle Fire is a good environment to facilitate in-app buys. The experience is designed to gravitate towards store purchases, whether books, media or games. It’s a little different for a very games-focused device. Do you think today’s console gamers are prepared to buy all their games digitally, thanks to XBLA and PSN?
Absolutely, since they’re already doing it. Not just there, but everywhere else too. It’s across all entertainment now, like digital delivery on TV where you can get a movie with a couple of clicks. People are consuming all range of digital content now and it’s come to the point where they’re really comfortable with it, whether it’s clicking to get a movie or a game.
GS: Excellent point, and we’re seeing more attempts at convergence. Look at the new generation of Smart TVs coming along, loaded with both multimedia and game offerings. When the TV itself becomes the delivery unit, does it make ideas like an Android game console somewhat trivial?
There’s the catch: The experience with Smart TVs won’t be as game-centric as the Ouya. The Ouya considers games its primary focus and business. When you’re doing a complex device designed for all kinds of entertainment and not games primarily, you’re going to see some flaws in the gaming experience. So in that way, I see some opportunity for core games on Ouya to help define what it is.
GS: Core games, at least in today’s AAA console ecosystem, tend to rely more on device specs and pushing technology trends. Many people have suggested the Ouya’s base specs, a Tegra 3 chipset and 1-gig of RAM, will age quickly between now and the proposed spring 2013 release. Do you think it has enough power to last?
Yeah, maybe it’s going to be tight. It’s good technology right now and not fading yet, but it’s going to become a tougher race next year. But remember, the world is a very big place and you have a lot of early adopters, but just as many potential late adopters, for everything.
GS: On a global level, one of the big hooks for Ouya adoption could become price. With a new round of consoles coming in the $300 and higher price range, this $99 alternative could represent an affordable path to HD gaming in the living room.
It’s true, $99 is a good price. What I like about the device is that the games will be cheaper too. So you have access to a cheap device, the games definitely won’t be priced like full console games, so the content and games are now cheap too. I can see low income families finding another choice there. Or any type of household.
GS: Do you think enough mainstream buyers are aware of the Android name, such that it carries extra weight to have an affordable console that runs on the OS?
No, I don’t think that’s really relevant up front. People aren’t familiar enough with it that it would influence the buy. Maybe later on it becomes a nice bonus. What I can see is a family finding out the device is cheap and the content is cheap, and deciding to get a console for the house. It might be because I don’t want the kids to use, let’s say, my Kindle Fire, because maybe I travel with it. There, the Ouya is a different game device for them to play.
There’s room for several devices in our lives. We have this mentality that everything will be in the phone, but that’s not true, because the phone goes with you wherever you go. When you have family-centric living room entertainment that is needed, you need a device better suited to that.
We have this mentality that everything will be in the phone, but that’s not true, because the phone goes with you wherever you go.
GS: For game studios, diversifying to multiple platforms and services can be a wise move, so I imagine the Ouya is being cautiously observed by many Android developers across the world.
Well, there’s a lot of hype since it’s trying something new, but I think it’s kind of a no brainer: You have a cheap HD console with a popular OS, and consoles still manage to sell tens of millions across the world every generation. People still want new and different consoles.
GS: Right, and there are parts of the world, developing nations, where people are still playing old consoles and the notion of an expensive HD console is out of reach for a lot of people.
The idea of very expensive new devices, like phones, tablets, consoles – that’s still a very first world idea. Developing nations, we have a few billion people in the world there, and they’re all going to have access to entertainment on a large scale soon. Can a cheap new console find a niche in that rising market, a device made for gamers by people that know games and demographics? Sure.
GS: Consider the small indie teams all over the world with dreams of developing for console, but nowhere near the resources to pull it off. Ouya could be a gateway to console game development for them.
If you’re ready to develop for console, and prepared to make something more hardcore, for sure. I don’t know about purely casual games, but that depends on who ends up buying the console. It’s certainly a disruption from what console gamers and developers are used to, so maybe that disruption opens the door for different types of console games.
GS: Will the Ouya become a real console development environment, or because of the mobile hardware and OS, the lack of physical game media, does it operate in a mobile development environment?
Mobile and console game development are really the same environment. To me, the Ouya may be a little closer to mobile. The difference between the two is that in console development you finish the product and ship it. Here, you don’t ship it. You put it live, you iterate, and you service it. So you’ll still be developing a console game, but thinking of it more like games as a service, not games as a product. So you can push the content and improve it as you go.
The console game developer will probably love to be able to do games that are cheaper, or free, with in-app purchases. You don’t factor in shipped software. Of course a lot of people are already doing that, and if you’re connected to Xbox Live, you’ve probably experienced it. With Ouya you have to be connected, so I think it’s going to give developers a lot of different ways to distribute their games.
GS: Given that console buyers are accustomed to paying higher prices for games, and have expectations for bigger experiences, do you think Ouya developers can get away with significantly higher pricing than typical mobile titles?
It’s different from both traditional console and mobile, but I don’t foresee any games priced above the $29.99 range. That would be the highest range. People are probably going to compare game prices to what they are on tablet, so a lot of buyers will be expecting up to $9.99 at most, or $14.99 for a very premium game. Remember, you’ll be seeing different price tiers, and that market will have to decide on its prices. It’s up to the developer to create the model, and the developer can choose his upfront fee or in-app purchases to support the game service.
GS: Do you think developers may feel obliged to include add-on features in Ouya games that also work on your mobile device?
Some will be happy to just release and support their [Ouya] game, and others may decide if you purchase the game for console, you get access to extra features you can use on another device. Play it on your console, and then take something with you on the phone.
We’re doing something similar with our new Android games. We’re creating one version with optimizations towards Samsung and Kindle devices, and we have to tweak the game for both. On both devices the experience is beautiful. We have to actually go in and make adjustments to graphics, tweak it for screen sizes, make sure the gameplay is perfectly consistent.
So there would be nothing to stop us, or other developers, from approaching Ouya the same way.
GS: We’re talking mobile, touch-based experiences versus sitting in front of the TV in the living room with a game controller-in-hand. So there’s going to be more involved than mobile-to-mobile adaptations.
Well, you need an adaptive design and flexibility. I remember doing an iOS game for iPhone and iPad, and having to take care of very specific tweaks for each version. It’s going to take some focus to adapt for the console. Sometimes it takes a main team on the game, working with specialized people assigned to making the game excel on other devices, as we do.
GS: Do you see yourself as an early adopter of the Ouya?
No, not me [laughs]. I don’t play enough games. But I see a lot of people giving it a shot. Look at the success of the fundraising, the traction it has there; a lot of the people that have invested in the company are actually consumers with an intention to own the product. That says a lot.
Ultimately, it’s really cheap to be a part of it for a consumer or developer, and in the end you simply can’t know how it’s going to perform – so maybe you want to be onboard now, beta testing, and ready to go if it really starts rolling. I think a lot of the money came after that breaking point – like when it broke about $1 million, suddenly a ton of money and interest starting coming in, and developers said: “Hey, it looks like there’s something here.”
It’s impressive when your potential customers are ready to pay for the device to be built. They’re paying for something that doesn’t exist, but they believe it is cool, and they want it as soon as it’s done. Having that type of installed base is a good start for anyone.
GS: It’s all based on uncertainty, but a lot of people would love to be the focus of this much uncertainty. Cheers for your superb insight, Luis.
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