Is The OUYA Reinforcing Bad Behavior?

[RiotingSpectre]

Hello,

From time to time I see comments from developers from around the internet that the OUYA only serves as a place for other developers to either get completely ripped off because the system has no potential for revenue, or that everyone else puts their content too cheap which forces the developers who want to submit something that's worth more than a loaf a bread to adjust the price of their upcoming content. Do you think that the fact that Discover is one of the cheapest markets out there is in itself hindering it in some way? Do you think any positives would come if the mean was increased? What I've also noticed is that there really isn't any finger-pointing towards the consumer demographic despite the fact that they play a large role in determining what is and isn't a successful game as well. Maybe not as much as a developer for obvious reasons, but surely enough to have a decent enough influence.

[Victor Coleiro]

Game prices have come down drastically on PC etc and are always on sale somewhere. So I'd say Ouya games for what they are, are on the high side price wise. Sign of the times I guess.

[Killswitch]

Race to the bottom. It's happening on every platform because consumers refuse to acknowledge a developer's time is worth something.

Anyway, look how many people refuse to buy games unless there is a sale no matter how good the game is. Of course developers are going to see less money. The two sides go together and when one refuses to pay even $5-15 for a game then what do you do? Price lower or don't bother. Some games are probably higher than they should be but those that aren't will suffer too because this poor mindset.

How can a developer get ripped off when they supply the product? Maybe if they didn't hide the fact that their games are on OUYA or actually market their games, they would see better results. Or they hit the vortex where it just doesn't work in one market, that's why they have other markets to prop up the weaker ones.

Consumers and developers go together but people always seem to forget that.

Bah...said I'm not getting in one of these threads again... bad Killswitch.

[Victor Coleiro]

Well , since day 1, starting from the beginning of the first video games way way way back, consumers have complained about the high price of video games. Remember a large demographic of who buys video games are low income or young and no income. However, Devs had to charge high prices for the volumes they were selling back then.

But now its different, volumes for good games are much much higher then back then, they can afford to sell cheaper and still get good returns. This combined with the multitude of consumer choices on the market and the demographics of a large swath of game buyers push prices down. Its getting flooded. It's simple supply and demand at the end of the day

[DrunkPunk]

Perceived quality plays a large part in regards to Android games. People see used 360/PS3 games for $20 and wonder why they should fork over that same twenty for a "phone game" when they are just as full featured, only not so shiny. Lots of examples on the OUYA alone that show Android games are worth the reasonable price.

[Nadious]

For me... i think the underlying fact of for Ouya is "if I buy this here, will it still get proper support" plays into it. Games like Towerfall and Amazing Frog (bought both on the Ouya) are two examples where the attention has shifted away from Ouya on to other platforms. They may still get updates at some point, but Ouya has become a footnote. So, why buy here when you can buy elsewhere and receive updates? If I knew I could get one code for all platforms, I'd buy on Ouya each and every time. But you know that won't happen and most people don't want to buy it multiple times.

That being said, people still cry about the $15 price tag. Just look at the Steam community for Amazing Frog. So, people are cheap everywhere. I actually like the fact I can pick up a good cheap game on the Ouya. If it turns out to be a bust, then I haven't invested a lot. That's a strong point for the Ouya for me.

[timmytot666]

The only answer I have to the falling prices of games (besides on the big 3 which are somehow getting more expensive) is that you can play 1 game on multiple platforms. I usually don't buy games on Ouya (that being said I've dropped over 200 bucks on OUYA games) because I can get the same games on Amazon; HumbleBundle; G2A; GOG. Most of them come with APKs you can download to all of your devices. Not with OUYA. But this isn't just the reason OUYA has low prices its the reason every online retailer is dropping prices. Games that came out a week ago could be on sale or launch on sale because people like getting a deal or feeling like they get one.

I just bought the humble bundle got 8 games for 7 dollars why would I buy them anywhere else when thats so cheap? I usually give all my money to charity (on humble bundle they let you choose where your money goes) so its even tax deductible lol. With all the different ways you can get a game they are going to compete against one another; whomever has the lowest prices will usually win out (sometimes that even means pirating for those scoundrels who do it).

I guess only time will tell but not even my brother who bought the Xbox1 on the day it came out will buy a game at full price anymore.

[xAD]

Either the OUYA userbase is so pointless and small you can't make money on it, or the OUYA userbase is so big that pricing on the OUYA market affects other markets. It really can't go both ways.
How many people look at a game and go "Well, it's only $1.25 on the GameStick, this is a rip-off!" Pretty much nobody.

[YoshiDM]

The Ouya reinforcing the behavior? No, there are other factors that started before Ouya and the trend just followed along. Steam sales can get crazy, Humble Bundles are close behind, smart phone games are at this level, etc. The sense of value is gone because of this race to the bottom on top of the sheer metric crap-ton of titles that are released regularly. People impulse buy and build a backlog without batting an eye because it's cheap.

I got sucked into that myself with those bundles. I don't quite focus on what I want, just going for a smattering of titles in bulk. Then when I sit when I have time, I now have to sift through a bunch of stuff and decide what I want to play and that can be a bit daunting. But that last part YMMV- I sometimes don't know what to play and just shut everything down and do a chore or something.

[Nitrogen_Widget]

I rarely see Indy games on Steam for more than $10.
There is a large vocal community attached to steam that will destroy a dev & his game if they try to charge too much for something that isn't worth it.

I used to have totes of games I bought back in the early `00's for my PC that I never played or played once & realized it was just a clone of another game I bought or the game just sucked and made me long for my dead Amiga 500 & mourn the death of commodore.
they all wound up donated to the good will.


OUYA doesn't have as many user's as steam and most don't even post here so you see very little feedback on games.
There are still demo's though & if my kids will play it, I buy it.
regardless of whether it's on sale or not.

Bombsquad and duck game are the most played games in my house.
Duck Game has edged out ahead and just like bombsquad with addons, characters, ect. it's pretty much shut-up & take my money.
amazing frog has been getting played lately so I may end up buying that soon.

not sure, it's warming up here so i tend to boot the boy's outside when the weather is good.