OUYA To be at GameStop Conference in Vegas - With E3 Similar Presence

[Reaperman]

Retro-bit and Hyperkin *both* had booth space at E3. Let's let that sink in for a bit.

Two retro 'clone' hardware manufacturers are looking to me to be a lot more 'legit' than OUYA by simply not hawking their wares from a shack across the street. They don't even have to convince devs that they're legit, just the retailers--that's half the challenge OUYA has.

[szupek]

The Ouya team needs to fire their current marketing director and hire a Product Relations manager and team immediately. Silence is not the answer for Indie anything.

[mmartino]

Yeah they definitely need better marketing. Word of mouth doesn't do it. Most people I have talked to about it just don't seem to get it for some reason. And what does "the revolution will be televised" mean? I thought it was just saying they will soon make a splash in some big TV event but nothing... not even youtube or magazine ads... I don't get their strategy or lack of one lol

[MX Woods3]

And what does "the revolution will be televised" mean?

I thought the exact same thing!!! I thought it meant they'll have some big commercial or event but noooooo.... not even a youtube ad.

[flclfanman]

If Ouya is going to this thing is they need a booth. The lot stunt won't work this time. Just buy a booth, bring in a couch and have groups come by and play Towerfall for a few minutes. You show off your killer app and the idea of real couch gaming with friends. If they screw this event up, their PR guy needs to go.

[arcticdog]

I know OUYA looks at this forum frequently for unfiltered feedback. So I hope they either disclose they have GameStop's permission to pull this stunt, or that they have a booth and it's just not listed in the vendor list.

I've supported this platform and their company to a huge extent. I've been accused of being one of their employees and an "apologist" on more than one occasion while defending some of their policies and their employees, and I was a VERY early adopter that dropped a lot of money on a dev console.

But I can honestly say that my patience around the refusal to grow up and run the company in a professional manner is growing very thin. Some of the software flaws and design mis-steps I can tolerate because I believe their tech team is competent and doing what they can with the resources and time they have available. I'm confident they'll have it all sorted out at some point in the near future.

But marketing, PR, all the non-technical things related to running a company related to public image... the technical achievements performed by their IT staff means ZERO if they can't pull their crap together and figure out how to market this. When users start to feel embarrassed about backing and purchasing the console, that should say something. When devs start to question business practices, that should say something.

Most of the games in OUYA's market will probably run without a problem on GameStick. Perhaps they should really REALLY ponder the implications around that.

It's not too late. Google Play (formerly Android Marketplace) didn't see any sort of marked improvement and change in reputation until they hired someone away from Microsoft who really knew how to market the app store brand and did what needed to be done to make it work. To paraphrase the dungeon master in Gauntlet.. "OUYA needs one of those. Badly."

[Eclipse]

Description of event says that U&I will have playable demos on the OUYA. Is there hope after all?

[szupek]

Considering devs have to sign one hell of an agreement before publishing, OUYA certainly seems to care more about making their 30% cut than managing the company on a PR level. That's frustrating as it was kick started on the idea that they WONT be like that... so far, that's a lie. I am pretty sure they are keeping silent so they can "wow" the crowd when something exclusive comes, but they simply don't have the time to hope for that. As soon as summer ends in the U.S. gaming season is back in full swing. You have MAYBE 1 month to "wow" people, past that and you are too late.

The console was launcehd too early, at a bad time of the year for gaming (summer) without pleasing Kickstarters, with bugs that make people say "really?" (BlueTooth interference, non mountable USB storage, overscan issues and an "eh" library of games). Having all that go against them (and still going against them, Bluetooth and USB still are a mess) they've kept their mouth shut instead of fessing up to their mistakes. (most gamers already have a bad taste with the CD lens errors in PS1, PS2 and RROD in XBOX 360). Silence is not the answer. MS and SNE can afford it, OUYA Team can't.

Lets hope someone with a skill for product and company management stumbles across this...though there are thousands of other posts already out there like this.

Back on topic. Pay for a booth at the Gamestop Expo. You got another 11 (or 15 cant remember) million in financial backing on top of the 8.5 Million from the "small guys". Now they need to do their job and buck up.

[Eclipse]

What I don't comprehend is why they didn't reserve a booth at every possible venue for 2013 and 2014.

Most companies book early and often. Costly yes. But I would think the VC's expected some of the funds to go toward advertising. Who doesn't have an advertising budget?

[Killswitch]

Vote Killswitch for Marketing and PR Director

Buy a small booth then direct people outside to a big booth, maybe a trailer with couches and whatnot. Or a whole parking lot, not just a little booth. Make a big freakin presence.