The folks at OUYA are once again talking games. Except this time around they are looking putting some money up in an effort to further attract developers. This is being launched as the “Free the Games” fund and it means OUYA is putting up $1 million to help turn “ideas into a reality.” Basically, assuming game developers can meet some criteria, the folks at OUYA will give them some money to further their work.
This is all being done using Kickstarter. The OUYA game console, as many will remember, began as a Kickstarter project. Details coming from OUYA note how Kickstarter was their beginning and they hope it can also be the beginning for someone else. The process begins with the developer creating a Kickstarter project for their game idea.
There are some rules the developers will need to follow. For example, the project must raise at least $50,000. Assuming the project reaches that funding level, OUYA will give the developer another $50,000. The OUYA team is doubling the Kickstarter funds (with a cap being set at $250,000).
The game developer also needs to release the game as an OUYA exclusive for the first 6-months. Once those 6-months have ended the game can be released on other platforms. Otherwise, the timeline is pretty open. OUYA has said the developers project will need to launch on or after August 9, 2013 and that it needs to end on or before August 10, 2014. In other words, developers have some time to get things straight.
On the flip side though, this also means that it may be a while before the average OUYA console owner will begin seeing any perks as a result of the “Free the Games” fund. Still, while the games may take some time to see a release, it is more than refreshing to see OUYA continue pushing developers to release games.
