Ouya Ends Kickstarter Funding At Over $8.6 Million

Written by: QuintLyn Bowers (@QuintLyn) | August 9, 2012 1:45 pm

8 Comments

Funding for the Android-based console Ouya closed on Kickstarter last night and it’s very possible that saying the fundraising was extremely successful would be an understatement.

The project — which launched on July 10th with a funding goal of $950,000 — acquired 64,416 pledges for a total of $8,596,475. That’s over nine times what they were looking for.

Astoundingly, about a quarter of the final total was raised in the first day alone.

During its funding run, the console caught the attention — and money — of gamers and those within the industry. Developers such as Marcus “Notch” Persson, Robert Bowling of studio Robotoki and inXile‘s Brian Fargo.

The Oyua team also managed to land deals with OnLive as well as publishers like Namco Bandai and Square Enix to bring hundreds of games to the platform including classics like Final Fantasy III.

Games won’t be all that backers will be able to use their Ouya’s for, as the team has also made agreements with Vevo, iHeartRadio, Plex and XMBC to have their services available through the console.

Ouya Ends Kickstarter Funding At Over $8.6 Million

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2 comments

Deathstar2x

Sounds to me like people want more choice besides Xbox and PS3.
- Justin Bania
  
  This seems more likely to me. I miss the days of 3 big systems vying for your money. Things were movin’ and shakin’ back then. Now it feels like two giant corporations fighting and telling the customers to just stay out of the way.
Jado Cast

Proud to say I’m a backer on this one!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Nae-Bodee/100002134184112 Nae Bodee

Never really seen the massive appeal of android games on your TV, sure it’s open source and you’ll get a bunch of free games but it’s not really worth me putting up front when it’ll just be as easy to buy it once it’s released (If it’s any good that it)
http://twitter.com/Nathiest Nathiest

Has a single project funded by kickstarter come out yet?
- Patrick Ryan
  
  To answer your broad question of if any kickstarter backed projects have come out, yes many have come out. Remember, there are 27,756 successfully funded Kickstarter projects, but only eight have raised more than a million and only 226 over $100K. If your question refers to the high profile video game projects that have hit Kickstarter since DoubleFine, then no, none of those are out yet.
  
  The model for video game projects is slightly different than most other projects on Kickstarter, except for OUYA. Most projects on Kickstarter, including OUYA, are at the prototype stage of a product and use Kickstarter to raise production capitol. This means all of the product design, testing, and revisions have been done and the product will be in the hands of backers after the manufacturing window. This is much like pre-ordering products that haven’t hit the market yet. Video game projects could be equated in that their manufacturing process is the actual design and build of the software, yet this “manufacturing” process takes a lot longer than other physical products. There are also major components like elements of game design, testing and revisions that take place post campaign with video game projects.
  
  To Mike B.’s point of what can dethrone OUYA in the gaming category, I am looking at it in a different way. While OUYA has the most raised (and yes, I backed it) they are far from the biggest success in terms of ROI. OUYA made 904% of their goal, the most of the big four that have over a million dollars pledged. However, table top games have pulled in far more successful campaigns due to their much lower production costs. Game like Zombicide (3,907% of goal), Ogre (4,618% of goal), Sedition Wars: Battle for Alabaster (4,756% of goal), and Kings of War (a whopping 7,099% of goal) have all posted much more profitable campaigns. These campaigns have been filled with stretch goals allowing for tooling of extra components, upgrades to existing components, and expansion funding. For an indie game company, campaigns like this can fast track them to success due to the volume of product they can produce.
  
  I don’t doubt that OUYA will hold the title of largest campaign for a while, but I am interested to see what game will create the next most profitable campaign.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Miguel-Crespo/501398647 Miguel Crespo

think this is going to have Netflix?
http://twitter.com/Nathiest Nathiest

I decided to give Kick Starter a shot with my book project. been less then 24 hours and I’ve already got one pledge worth $25.00. I’m amazed.