Ouya to launch second Kickstarter campaign, this time to encourage games development for the Android console

Ouya to launch second Kickstarter campaign, this time to encourage games development for the Android console

Ouya is once again to take to Kickstarter, although this time it is to prod developers into producing games for the Android-based console.

Because it is a closed platform and games need to be converted or built from the ground up for Ouya specifically, the company has not managed to populate its library of titles quit as quickly as originally hoped. The £99 games machine is available to buy now, and there are over 100 apps and games available, but the vast majority are far from marquee titles.

Its new Kickstarter campaign, therefore, is aimed and increasing the amount of triple-A games, as well as expand the general portfolio.

Starting 9 August, Ouya will be open to developers who will pledge how much money they will spend on developing an application for the platform, from between $50,000 to $250,000. Ouya in return will match those pledges, effectively doubling the developers' budgets, up to the tune of a total $1 million.

After the campaign is over, the developer who pledged the most amount of money will also get an additional bonus. "The kicker, at the end, is whichever raises the best will get a $100,000 bonus," said Julie Uhrman, CEO of Ouya. "We're saying, 'hey, you're a rock star.'"

The games funded through this scheme will have to be exclusive to Ouya for six months after publication on the app store. With 10,000 devkits downloaded to date, there's certainly the interest out there. This Kickstarter campaign may provide the incentive for some of those to get to work.




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