U&I Entertainment CEO Julie Uhrman revealed that their upcoming Ouya Android console will not follow the traditional video game hardware cycle by releasing a new console every five or six years. Instead the company is taking a page from the mobile playbook, and plans to launch a new version of the Ouya every year.
Speaking at DICE this week, Uhrman revealed the business plan, saying:
“Our strategy is very much similar to the mobile strategy, there will be a new OUYA every year. There will be an OUYA 2 and an OUYA 3… We’ll take advantage of faster, better processors, take advantage of prices falling. So if we can get more than 8GB of Flash in our box, we will,”
Uhrman added that customers need not worry about older software compatibility with newer Ouya consoles, because “all the games will be backward compatible”. The CEO then added, “The games will be tied to you, the gamer”.
Uhrman also revealed that the internal review process for game submissions should not take long, and the company is planning to start approving new games the “middle-to-end of this month”. As for what is involved in the submission process, Uhrman noted that they will check for “intellectual property infringement, and malware, and excessive pornography”, after that “quick review” the games should be up in the “storefront in one capacity or another”.
Kind of makes you wonder exactly where they draw the “excessive pornography” line, but I digress.
There are over 450 games that are planned for the Ouya right now, and while we don’t have a full list of every title we do know that Double Fine will release The Cave and their Kickstarter adventure game (codenamed Reds) onto the new console. Uhrman stated at DICE that the Ouya would be the only console to get Double Fine’s Kickstarter game, however, a rep from the studio later backed off that claim and left open the possibility of a future multiconsole release.
The Ouya fully launches this June and will be available both online at at retailers for $99.99, plus another $49.99 for an additional controller. As more announcements are made about the console we will let you know.
