Sony attributes its failure to the fact that there are “so many options for publishers now that we cannot take [developed games] for granted.” Ouya, on the other hand simply says that “over a thousand [developers] have been in touch with us since our Kickstarter ended.” That’s it from each company, so we’re on our own from here on out, but I have a couple of theories I want to run by you, and let’s see what you make of them.
My first idea was that it could all be to do with perspective. A thousand developers could be a success to Ouya and a disaster to Sony seeing as one is a well established console and the other is an indie project. Then I wondered, could that possibly be the case? According to wikipedia there are about 750 games released for the PS3, a console that’s nearly seven years old! Considering that seven years is also plenty of time for individual developers to make more than one game, it seems like a thousand developers is indeed quite an impressive number. For comparison, the Wii has just over 1200 released games, and the 360 has 930 released games, all according to wikipedia. Considering, like I said, a single developer could release several games over a single console cycle, I have a feeling this has nothing to do with perspective. Ouyas numbers are impressive, off the charts even.
Well if the Ouya is able to keep up with the big league home consoles, maybe the difference is down to the fact that whilst Ouya is a home console, the PS Vita is a handheld. Looking at Sony’s handheld competitor Nintendo, it seems that this may not even be the case, since there are about 1200 released games on the original DS. I decided against looking at the amount of games for the 3DS for a number of reasons, firstly it’s a similar age to the Vita, and exists in the same market at the same time, so may also be doing poorly as a result. Secondly the concrete figures weren’t easily available and I didn’t want to do the research myself, come on I’m not a fucking scientist. Finally the figures seem almost irrelevant, wherever you look, the Ouya seems like it’s capable of competing with the big boys.
Oh yeahhh.
Ok, so what next? Sticking with the fact that the PS Vita is a handheld, I just want to talk about how much needs to be invested effort wise in order to make a game for either the Vita or the 3DS. With home consoles, you have a pretty standard set of hardware, the 360 and PS3 are essentially neck and neck power wise, and where there is a big outlier, the Wii in this example, it’s already been seen that 3rd party developers don’t want to add the extra effort necessary to port their games over, and the Wii has suffered as a result. Now, think of the controllers, again the 360 and PS3 are directly comparable, similar layouts and almost identical number of buttons, essentially the inputs are the same. The Wii again is an outlier, and as a result you see it’s sales suffer. Now think of the two handhelds, both aren’t comparable in power, nor in inputs, nor in displays. Neither are they comparable to the home consoles or to each other. Meaning that unless you want to put a lot of effort in, or build a whole new “portable version” from scratch, very few developers are probably willing to port their console games to the handhelds, and fewer are willing to make handheld only games, when handhelds account for such a small share of the market.
That explains Sony’s troubles, but it still doesn’t cover why the numbers don’t add up. Let’s look at the sort of developers that would be willing to work with each console, and the roadblocks and help each company uses when dealing with developers. Firstly, if you want to make a game for the PS Vita, you’ll have to buy a development kit directly from Sony. This is just the done thing. If you wanted to make a game for any of the mainstream consoles, you could buy a dev kit straight from the manufacturer which would have many handy hardware additions and debug software not available in a regular home console. Now, this can get a bit pricy, since dev kits aren’t mass produced to the same volume as the regular console, and they’re the only way to get software and hardware details before the release of a console or a patch, it puts a real obstacle, price wise, on developing a game for the main consoles. This sort of cost could only really be fronted by big developers and publishers, the sort of name’s you’re all familiar with. Many indie companies, and single-person startups will use a retail version of the console to test their game, more cost-efficient yes, but you don’t get the same sort of benefits and tools a dev kit would provide you.
Boo Hoo
Ouya, on the complete other side of the spectrum, is not only begging you to hack it and play with it’s settings, but it’s running one of the most easily accessible operating systems out there, Android. Anyone can get their hands on the Android SDK (Software Development Kit) for absolutely free, and can then tweak the specs of their virtual Android platform to roughly match those of the Ouya. From there you’re off and away, meaning it’s very easy for any indie company, start-up, prosumer, hobbyist, or even the big-name companies, to write software and develop games for the Ouya platform. Combine that with the price point and the fact that most games will be low-spec indie titles, and you’ve got a new hipster paradise. Move over Starbucks! That’s the key to the Ouyas success, the fact that anyone who’s willing to learn can create quality content, and even make money from it. My bet is that the vast majority of those 1000 developers are individuals, or small groups, rather than the larger teams you get working on titles for the PS Vita, but this reveals the question everyone should be asking. It doesn’t matter if they match up in quantity so much as whether or not games for the PS Vita and the Ouya will match up in quality, graphically, gameplay wise and other factors. For that, we’ll just have to wait.
Now get out of my house!
Jamie out xoxoxo
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