Just wondering the prices people plan on selling Ouya games for? Only post if you either are developing a game, already developed a game or a planing to start a game within 6 months from now for the Ouya. Ports included and non exclusives.
Since OUYA is touting their ‘try for free then buy for real’ model, buying The Hero’s Journey for $4.99 makes my Buy The Devs A Pizza interface become permanently optional.
But it also means that devs aren’t competing for that purchase based on screenies. People don’t have to pick between two games based on incomplete information before paying for it - they can decide based on actual gameplay before paying for it.
The system could go either way, but I’m hoping that it tilts towards quality games and less of a race to the bottom. People expect cheap/free stuff these days, but at least now they’ll be purchasing games or not based on having played them. And having a chance to show them the actual value of your game in a hands on manner can’t be a bad thing. If they’re actually having fun that’s a pretty compelling reason to hand over their dollars.
For Master Thief I’m thinking about $5, though I’m not exactly sure how we’re going to work that. For the mobile version of the game we’re charging $1 for the base game and $1 for booster packs which have extra functionality and levels. For the OUYA release (depending on when we get to it) I’d consider charging for the whole lot up front, as it’ll get more people playing with the full set of the game’s features.
Our game Robot Universe will go on OUYA eventually, after web release, its gona be free to play with inapp purchases.
I’m thinking $4.99 and will probably be working on Ouya exclusives for the foreseeable future I think I will be much more productive only taking into account TV’s and not the sizes of screens mobile devices have. Hoping to have some kind of a game done by the end of the year.
One thing that could be a problem is being found. Seems that the system needs some type of “system” in place for that.
Don’t take screen sizes into account. Design such that it’s irrelevant. You can’t do that for all types of games, but you’d be surprised how for you can go with that idea, and it’s still pretty useful for consoles (since TVs also vary and are viewed from much greater distances).
It’s interesting how things have changed over the years. Games used to be like $20, with a bargain game for $10. Then along came mobile. Now people are valuing their games at like $5. For me the same game is worth double that, at least… but people’s expectations have been heavily swayed by mobile even if Ouya is not a mobile platform. So it sounds like most people are going to end up in the $5-10 category… … which is at least far far better than the 99c category… everyone please DO NOT sell your game for less than $5 ever!
This is a good point, around the net people have been whining about the prices saying that they are outrageous, its such crap. But I think that if we just sold our games for $15 no one would buy, but at say $5 there is still a chance, maybe when Ouya 2 comes out the sequals of original games will cost $10-$15, but if the push happens to sudden then Ouya will just be a dead platform.
Well for me, my game is significantly smaller than things I pay more for. It’s not a Bioshock or a Battlefield or a Starcraft or a WoW, so I don’t feel that it should be priced along with those games.
$1 for the mobile release of our game was actually a price point we got to based on the decision that we’d rather release something than sit on it during further development. It wasn’t the full game we wanted to release, so we didn’t want to put it out there at a premium (compared to other mobile games) price point with that in mind. So we figured we’d get a minimum viable product out there for a minimum price, then build on it and price the remainder in as add-ons as we make it.
Also, value to a developer is very different to value for a gamer. We see the blood, sweat and tears that we or others put into a game. Gamers see a bunch of games they can get at a given price point and choose from those. Or they see a bunch of similar looking games and pick the cheapest one with shiny screenshots. Or they impulse buy something one of their mates said was cool because it’s less than a cup of coffee so why not?
10-15 is hardly AAA pricing, I’m not saying to price them like new AAA games, but AFAIK the whole $0.99 thing only came around when the IOS app store came to existence. TBH I see loads of games that are way more valuable than $0.99 its bullshit, people impulse buy $30 games at game shops but for some reason $4.99 is some kind of a rip off?!?! Its kind of crazy that this has happened where people value games so low, it starts here, then the Wii-U PS and Xbox stores and in the end unless you have a huge success like Angry Birds you eat scraps for eternity.
Lets be honest here: as soon as sales drop, everyone will panic and prices will go down to 99c.
Nah. But I forsee the ‘beggarware’ model being especially prevalent on OUYA; instead of ‘just’ limiting your sales to [insert price here], why not have a button that potentially allows you to make small amounts of money for a long time to come? Besides, it’s not like anyone has to buy your game on OUYA…
I think the opportunity with Ouya is not to have a one-lump-sum-scary-people-away kind of model but more of the incremental payments model, ie a smoother/gentler transition into payment in general… have that $5 fee for the full version, then later on offer an add-on pack or level pack or something for an extra $5.
I’m definitely on board for the in-app purchases. Providing optional content that users can purchase if they want to is a great means of keeping the barrier to entry nice and low. (without taking the possibility of purchases off the table entirely)
I also have an idea I want to try out about reverse-DLC accessibility. I’ve never agreed with the current DLC policies employed by major game studios. I want to rig up DLC so that whether or not you have to pay for it is determined by when you bought the game. DLC released after you purchase the game will be free. DLC released before you purchase the game will require a fee. I feel a system like this would be much better for rewarding early adopters who purchase the game before anyone else.
What I’m working on for the Ouya is episodic, so I’m thinking the first episode free (like The Walking Dead) and a set price to unlock the rest of the episodes for that story arc. I’m not sure yet what that price will be, though. I’m thinking anywhere between $5 and $15. I’m waiting to see what the common price is on apps, like how most apps on iOS are either $0.99 or $1.99.
If the thing is just going to be a Freemium Paradise, then I don’t want to be part of it in any way, not as a consumer and much less as a developer. Unfortunately, I bet that’s what is going to happen once people give up on trying to sell for a fixed price.
I don’t have an OUYA yet but I’ll monitor the prices once I do get one. Sounds like $4.99 is currently the going price for a semi-decent game.
Surely the market will be the same as the android hand held market? its going to be the same stuff for a long time on there, its just going to be devs porting over their apps hoping to turn a dime.
If anything, I can see the market being WORSE than the android handheld market as at the minute the OUYA is just a dev console, so its only other developers trying to earn money buying the games. Now this is a double-edged sword, on one side devs may be happy to pay more as they see the efforts and wish to support other developers, but on the other side of the sword the devs are generally on the OUYA to try make money for themselves, and are releasing titles, not actually buying/playing them.
Personally I think the market is going to be dire and cheap. I have yet to hear a friend of mine say that they’ve heard of the OUYA (friends who aren’t related to game development) which is incredibly worrying for a ‘revolutionary console’ as they so say on the box.
I said during the Kickstarter this console was going to be a flop, and so far I still feel the same way, its a console made for devs to publish to, for devs to buy from.
Feel free to prove me wrong OUYA. But the price of games is just going to go down and down until it hits rock bottom.
Must be lots of devs if we managed to make them sellout everywhere. Considering the amount of unboxing videos by non developers Ithink the idea that its just for devs is clearly wrong.