OUYA Games and Pricing

[seiseki]

I'm curious as both a developer and a gamer on what the prices will be like on OUYA.
It won't be possible to directly compare prices in the store since all games will be free to download, but have an IAP cost for unlocking full game or some other form of IAP.
Which makes me wonder how this will affect customers, they won't be able to compare the prices for two similar games, they can only try them and then get the price details.
I'm just making assumptions here, based on the current information we have. Which is that there will be one .apk for each game. So no free versions that come separately like on Google Play.
It might be possible for developers to add price info on their storefront, but why reveal that before your potential customer has even tried your game?

I'm also not too fond of the mobile market as a developer, since games are way too cheap.
For larger companies that can sell their games to millions of people, that kind of price really works in their favor.
But for indies who spend a long time on their games can't really afford to sell it at the same price, especially if it's a niche game, since it won't sell nearly enough.

Granted, I'm a huge rookie when it comes to anything business related, so any input from more experienced developers or industry people would be appreciated!

[jabmax]

Fryza developer is proposing his skate game for 15$ on Kickstarter, but he propose 10$ backer opportunity for Ouya owners only, sending a unlock code from free demo. I think what if a game will not Ouya exclusive (then, not in ouya store only), it will can be acquired on Play Store in two price : normal (1/3/5 $ like) and "double Ouya" (same price or 5$ plus), and if people buy "double Ouya" will can download the game on his android device and opening it he will receive a notification (or an option in game menu) with Ouya unlock code, to play full version.

[Jawdy]

It won't be possible to directly compare prices in the store since all games will be free to download, but have an IAP cost for unlocking full game or some other form of IAP.

I don't believe this is entirely accurate. What Julie has said is that ALL games will require a free component - be it a demo or freemium model. Which leads neatly into my next bit...

Which is that there will be one .apk for each game. So no free versions that come separately like on Google Play.

Can you point me to some details as to where you've heard/read this?
When pressed for clarification about the "Free" part of the OUYA's campaign, Boxer8 have said that it means all games must include some free element, whether that be a demo or the freemium/in-app-purchases model. So I'm pretty sure we'll be able to upload multiple APKs, just as long as we state that there is a free version and it's <insert a link> or something like that.

I'm also not too fond of the mobile market as a developer, since games are way too cheap.
For larger companies that can sell their games to millions of people, that kind of price really works in their favor.
But for indies who spend a long time on their games can't really afford to sell it at the same price, especially if it's a niche game, since it won't sell nearly enough.

I'm actually not too keen on the freemium model and don't think it'll change the world of gaming or become the "be all and end all" of pricing structures. Especially if developers offer a freemium model to satisfy those who prefer that way, but offer up a "Full Price" of say $20/$30 which lets you get all the content. Think a season pass in an episodic game.
And I'm also of the belief that there is a place for more premium priced content... it just has to be worth it! I recently bought a £5 iPad game before going on holiday, loads of positive feedback and a high rating and it was crap! Dull, poor balancing, only mediocre graphics and barely kept our attention for a couple of attempts at playing. If the game is good, has merit and can attract enough of a following, then one could set a game at a more premium price point, still see good sales and receive a greater income to be able to support, update and create games in the future.

Just my two cents - and it's a trend others are talking about, too! Loads of ex-triple-A devs are leaving the massive studios to create mobile games, and many have said they wont be freemium, but premium. It'll be interesting to see what consumers think as, at the end of it all, it's them who will decide with their wallets :-)

[AdyCarter]

The single APK thing comes from this summary of the Droidcon keynote.

I'd be slightly surprised if its 100% accurate though.

[Jawdy]

Haha, I'm a dolt - I've not only read that, but responded to it, sorry seiseki!

I still hope that, on that particular item (single APK) that it isn't true! But then again, if you minimize what is free within that APK and require an unlock code or similar, then that could still work! This is certainly some area we're going to need to know pretty soon, from Boxer8.

Although, I'm the one who keeps saying to be patient, as the devkits are out next month and there are still months before the first public/consumer devices hit the backers... so things will come to light, be announced etc, hopefully answering all our questions :-)

[Dreamzle]

I too wonder what pricing is going to be like. Unfortunately, I have a bad feeling that people are going to price Ouya games the same as Android, which will get Ouya owners so used-to those small prices that they won't ever buy anything over $10 no matter how high quality. Which will discourage the big developers from releasing games on Ouya.

And I too am pretty sure it's only going to be one APK - they've made it very clear that every app on the Ouya is free with in-app purchases, either to unlock the full game or to buy bits of it.

[setsuki]

We are a small and young indie company, and if we ever finish our OUYA game, here's how we'll earn money :
Have you ever played dungeon defenders? The game, for $12, has some content to offer ; 4 characters, a 5 hours long campaign, and a big replayability potential.
But if that isn't enough, you can buy sooooo many DLCs. Characters and maps, most of the time with a theme (halloween, chivalry...)

We are going to do that "for free". The game itself will be free, have 5 characters (plus some unlockables), several maps, and as much replayability as we can put in it.
You can play this as much as you want.
Then comes the DLCs. A theme (horror, chivalry, politics, happyjoyfunland) including maps and characters that can be added to the main campaign (a new path in the game).
We hope that players will buy DLCs willingly, knowing what they are buying since they already have the game, and won't feel forced to do so.

[seiseki]

Since neither DLC nor in-game purchasable items work well with our game, we were gonna try some sort of limited time demo, where you can unlock the whole game through an IAP.

I'm really curious what everyone else is going to do when it comes to selling their games.

I also wonder if OUYA will stick to the F2P model, since it's not one that works for every game.
And also, platforms like steam get a good rep because they offer sales, which in turn give old and forgotten games another chance to shine.
It's also really great marketing for indie games.

[Taylor Balbi]

My plan is to have an IAP for Unlocking the full game. I believe you can use data packages to keep your game to 1 APK and just have people download the rest of the game when they need it. An example of this post-install download is most (if not all) Gameloft games. You download a 6-8MB apk and then download 200-800MB of data when the game launches. Here's hoping this is trivial when we get to that point

[James Andrew Coote]

The game I'm developing at the moment also really doesn't lend itself to either a demo, nor IAP. It's basically a modified version of a famous board game.

I've had a couple of ideas about how to 'monetize' it, though neither are really proven methods:

a). Pay for extras. E.g. Extra / different 'chance cards'
b). In multiplayer, each game lasts an hour or two. At the start of the game, whoever is 'hosting' the game, sets a number of special coins that everyone has to put in at the start of the game (like an ante in poker). The special coins are spent on special powerful moves during the game. Any unused coins get returned to the player at the end of the game. The special coins cost maybe 10c each. Players can always set the starting number of coins to zero if they don't want to pay.

The idea being to introduce extra tension into the game (is this move really worth one of my precious coins?), and extra mechanics-possibilities into the game. At the same time, everyone has the same number of coins, so there is no pay-to-win, and if people don't want to pay, they can just play a zero coins match

Incidentally, a lot of successful board games have expansion packs and extras that you can buy for 'advanced matches', or to add extra dimensions to play. Card games even more so (magic: the gathering was doing IAP before smartphones even existed).

I too am skeptical about F2P being the perfect solution. As pointed out by someone else, it really favours bigger companies who can spend on acquiring and supporting hundreds of thousands of players needed for the 0.01% who actually pay to make any significant money