Ouya Surprised By Reactions to Free the Games Fund

[roseofbattle]

Ouya Surprised By Reactions to Free the Games Fund

Ouya believes people have lost the company's intention, and some indie devs decide to leave.

The Free the Games Fund, Ouya's $1 million project, encourages independent game developers to fund their games on Kickstarter with a promise of the company matching all pledges dollar-to-dollar as long as the game has six months of exclusivity on the Ouya. However, the project has felt some heat [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127610-Update-Ouya-Game-Meets-Kickstarter-Goal-Controversy-Remains] after suspicious activity on Kickstarter in which one game in the project had an average donation per person of about $934. In light of questions about the fund, Ouya has issued a statement: "This response surprised us -- we thought this was going to be great -- how could it not be?"

Ouya founder Julie Uhrman issued her statement on behalf of the company yesterday. "We want to *open* game development," Uhrman writes. "The truth is, openness is hard. Being open means everything is fair game, and it means sometimes things don't work out exactly as you hope... We're OK with that, though, because being open is worth it."

Uhrman's post angered many commenters, several of whom are independent developers. One developer, Sophie Houlden, chose today to pull her game Rose and Time from the console as a result of Uhrman's statement. [http://www.sophiehoulden.com/rose-and-time-no-longer-on-ouya/ ] In her comment to Uhrman yesterday, Houlden wrote, "I originally thought... that though the FTG fund could be exploited nobody would do that. We have clearly been proven wrong... yet you are STILL running the thing? and *this* is your response?"

Uhrman includes links to nine other games in the fund, all of which are far from their target goal.

Source: Ouya [https://www.ouya.tv/lets-talk-about-the-free-the-games-fund/]

Permalink

 

[lacktheknack]

Taaaaaaaactfullllllll.

How on Earth is she surprised that devs are upset that people are exploiting at their expense... and Ouya isn't making any steps to stop it?

Principal isn't everything (unless you're CD Projekt, I guess).

 

[hentropy]

Well it's good to see this donation model is working like a charm. Not that I'm saying the whole thing is bunk, but this is pretty telling that we still have a ways to go before this becomes a valid model. The Ouya itself was a (predictable) letdown, and the one big attempt to try and get real games on the thing instead of just shovelware starts to fall apart.

 

[lacktheknack]

I don't get it. What's the drama? Why are people angry?

People are potentially exploiting the FTG system by putting up their game on Kickstarter and donating wads of cash to themselves, which Ouya (theoretically) is going to match. Alternatively, Ouya is pumping cash into the projects to ensure exclusivity (this seems unlikely).

Ouya's response: "Oh well, at least we're keeping development transparent."

 

[lacktheknack]

I don't get it. What's the drama? Why are people angry?

People are potentially exploiting the FTG system by putting up their game on Kickstarter and donating wads of cash to themselves, which Ouya (theoretically) is going to match.

Ouya's response: "Oh well, at least we're keeping development transparent."

Why are people angry about that? They tried to do something to get games on the console, people abuse it and they say "well, shit happens, But you just move on" and people are........... mad at them?

Of all the shit in the world to be mad at. C'mon. Christ.

When thousands of dollars and your game's development is on the line (the whole thing could crash if allegations of fraud are pushed), it's reasonable to want a better response than

 

[Seventh Actuality]

Ouya surprised by reality again?

I'd say it's not news anymore but honestly I love seeing their fuck ups in the press, keep it up.

 

[lacktheknack]

Good lord these people are childish.

"This isn't even a response, let alone a decent one. You don't get to keep my game, you don't get to have any of the games I was looking forward to (or even started) porting to OUYA. But hey you get gridiron thunder." - Sophie Houlden

Could she sound any more like a child? "Nyah. You don't get to have MY amazing game."

These developers need to sit the fuck down and undo their panty twist. You'd think Ouya had promised to murder one of their children for every dollar they paid out. You know what, good. Take your game and fuck off. If this is seriously going to be your response to Ouya not being upset that someone tried to screw them over, you and your game can crawl in a hole.

You're not reading it right.

Sophie is acting like she thinks they dumped an embarrassing amount of money into Gridiron Thunder, which is unquestionably fraud. I think that's less than likely, but their response really isn't helping any suspicions.

Or, even worse, 4chan/Reddit did it.

Imagine getting your project funded, only for all the pledges to be dropped afterwards, leaving you holding the bag with no money.

 

[Chatboy 91]

What's that? Ouya is fucking up their PR again?

In other news, the sky is blue.

 

[Alcaste]

Good lord these people are childish.

"This isn't even a response, let alone a decent one. You don't get to keep my game, you don't get to have any of the games I was looking forward to (or even started) porting to OUYA. But hey you get gridiron thunder." - Sophie Houlden

Could she sound any more like a child? "Nyah. You don't get to have MY amazing game."

These developers need to sit the fuck down and undo their panty twist. You'd think Ouya had promised to murder one of their children for every dollar they paid out. You know what, good. Take your game and fuck off. If this is seriously going to be your response to Ouya not being upset that someone tried to screw them over, you and your game can crawl in a hole.

You're not reading it right.

Sophie is acting like she thinks they dumped an embarrassing amount of money into Gridiron Thunder, which is unquestionably fraud. I think that's less than likely, but their response really isn't helping any suspicions.

Or, even worse, 4chan/Reddit did it.

Imagine getting your project funded, only for all the pledges to be dropped afterwards, leaving you holding the bag with no money.

Who says any of that has happened? Someone tried to screw them over (possibly). They saw it. They told us they saw it.

What do these people want? Do they want Ouya to spend a month whipping themselves? A public announcement about how stupid they are? Should they write the greatest essay ever seen on the topic of fraud? I've never in my entire life seen someone get mad because a group didn't react hard enough.

I can't imagine less of a reason to be mad. Surely this woman is literally insane.

Yes. It IS insane to be upset about something you are incredibly invested in, watching the policies of a foundation you once supported crumble and fail, showing you just where your time and effort has been going. What a stupid woman for being upset, she should just 'man up' and get over herself, I mean it's not like game development is her livelihood. Psssh, who would make THAT a career, right?

 

[lacktheknack]

Good lord these people are childish.

"This isn't even a response, let alone a decent one. You don't get to keep my game, you don't get to have any of the games I was looking forward to (or even started) porting to OUYA. But hey you get gridiron thunder." - Sophie Houlden

Could she sound any more like a child? "Nyah. You don't get to have MY amazing game."

These developers need to sit the fuck down and undo their panty twist. You'd think Ouya had promised to murder one of their children for every dollar they paid out. You know what, good. Take your game and fuck off. If this is seriously going to be your response to Ouya not being upset that someone tried to screw them over, you and your game can crawl in a hole.

You're not reading it right.

Sophie is acting like she thinks they dumped an embarrassing amount of money into Gridiron Thunder, which is unquestionably fraud. I think that's less than likely, but their response really isn't helping any suspicions.

Or, even worse, 4chan/Reddit did it.

Imagine getting your project funded, only for all the pledges to be dropped afterwards, leaving you holding the bag with no money.

Who says any of that has happened? Someone tried to screw them over (possibly). They saw it. They told us they saw it.

What do these people want? Do they want Ouya to spend a month whipping themselves? A public announcement about how stupid they are? Should they write the greatest essay ever seen on the topic of fraud? I've never in my entire life seen someone get mad because a group didn't react hard enough.

I can't imagine less of a reason to be mad. Surely this woman is literally insane.

If you don't understand an outcry, it's probably because you don't understand it, rather than the outcriers being off their rockers.

Here, let me outline it for you:

GOOD SCENARIO:
Insane people are actually contributing donations of thousands of dollars to these games.

RESULT: Wow. Cool.

BAD SCENARIO:
Devs are putting their games up and then donating wads of cash to themselves, taking Ouya's money without earning it.

RESULT: Sup-par and underfunded games stream from the FTG initiative, wrecking its reputation. Ouya demonstrates the survival skills of a kitten, which is totally what you want the company you're signing exclusivity with to have.

WORSE SCENARIO:
Ouya is pumping money directly into these Kickstarters. This is complete fraud.

RESULT: Ouya committed a crime to gain exclusivity.

WORST SCENARIO:
4chan, Reddit, etc. are trolling.

RESULT: Not only do Ouya lose a wad of money, but all of a sudden, the pledges are all dropped and the devs are left with nothing other than Ouya's money. And Ouya demonstrate the survival skills of a kitten again.


Being mad is completely understandable when Ouya's lack of response has terrible implications for all three bad scenarios.

Maybe they could... I dunno... investigate where the money is coming from?

 

[MysticSlayer]

Good lord these people are childish.

"This isn't even a response, let alone a decent one. You don't get to keep my game, you don't get to have any of the games I was looking forward to (or even started) porting to OUYA. But hey you get gridiron thunder." - Sophie Houlden

Could she sound any more like a child? "Nyah. You don't get to have MY amazing game."

These developers need to sit the fuck down and undo their panty twist. You'd think Ouya had promised to murder one of their children for every dollar they paid out. You know what, good. Take your game and fuck off. If this is seriously going to be your response to Ouya not being upset that someone tried to screw them over, you and your game can crawl in a hole.

Did you read the article in the OP? Sophie is actually is remaining rather level-headed in all of this, even saying that she loves Ouya and that it was a difficult decision for her to pull her game from it.

What do these people want? Do they want Ouya to spend a month whipping themselves? A public announcement about how stupid they are? Should they write the greatest essay ever seen on the topic of fraud? I've never in my entire life seen someone get mad because a group didn't react hard enough.

Ouya has had some horrible PR problems, and the general idea remains: If you have horrible PR, you are going to lose people's trust. It doesn't matter what you did in order to develop that horrible PR, just that you did it. Sophie's article actually states that this is more of a ongoing problem, but that it was Ouya's ho-hum response to the allegations of fraud that ultimately ended up pushing her over the edge. She had many PR grievances against Ouya, but it was only now that she finally had enough.

Also, it is rather common for some people to dislike a weak response to something as serious as fraud. If you, basically, admit that your system allows for fraud and say, "Well, it's there, but we're still not going to stop what we're doing," then you are, through your actions, supporting the fraud, even if you say something entirely differently (an "actions speak louder than words" ordeal).

 

[teknoarcanist]

How about OUYA stop ducking and dodging and answer the real question directly: are they quietly donating to these games' kickstarter campaigns--including at the very least "Elementary, My Dear Holmes" and "Gridiron Thunder"--in a dishonest fashion which utilizes fake donor accounts?

And if so, why? And if not, then how do they explain (or what is their comment upon) the existence of these accounts, and the source of this money?

Does OUYA have information regarding the fake donor accounts, or the party behind them?

If so, does OUYA intend to share that information?

If not, does OUYA plan to launch an investigation?

If so: do they plan to do so before money changes hands?

If not: why?

And how can backers, customers, and potential customers award OUYA with any credibility whatsoever if OUYA continues to sidestep such major accusations bearing such well-documented evidence?

 

[barbzilla]

How about OUYA stop ducking and dodging and answer the real question directly: are they quietly donating to these games' kickstarter campaigns--including at the very least "Elementary, My Dear Holmes" and "Gridiron Thunder"--in a dishonest fashion which utilizes fake donor accounts?

And if so, why? And if not, then how do they explain (or what is their comment upon) the existence of these accounts, and the source of this money?

Does OUYA have information regarding the fake donor accounts, or the party behind them?

If so, does OUYA intend to share that information?

If not, does OUYA plan to launch an investigation?

If so: do they plan to do so before money changes hands?

If not: why?

And how can backers, customers, and potential customers award OUYA with any credibility whatsoever if OUYA continues to sidestep such major accusations bearing such well-documented evidence?

Oh, come on man.

Think this through logically. Ouya could literally just give them the money for exclusivity if they wanted to without having to use kickstarter. There is nothing illegal about that. The most likely scenario is that some game designer is pumping their own funds through kickstarter to get Ouya's funds for their game. That is shady and fraud, but it isn't up to Ouya to investigate. It is up to KICKSTARTER since they have all the resources for the investigation in the first place. If Kickstarter is telling them Fairplay, then Ouya has to either pony up or back out.

Ouya is trying to make the best out of a bad situation, and that is all.

Why is it that I am the one who has to point this out? I don't own a Ouya, I don't like the Ouya, and don't particularly care for much of what they do, but this isn't the huge deal people are making it out to be. Let them make a decision and report what is going on before you over react.