Ouya Surprised By Reactions to Free the Games Fund

[Smooth Operator]

I really can't tell what the drama is for, if some get in via scams that doesn't exclude you from what is offered, and no they will not shut down the entire project because some entries are questionable... they didn't say people will get the money no matter what.

But the public statement is very strange none the less, as in it doesn't even make sense nor does it seem to address the situation even slightly. Which does leave the question if they were doing the scam themselves, but to what end I really can't fucking fathom.

 

[teknoarcanist]

snip

If it were one game, that would be the logical response. But it's not. There are TWO games operating under the FTGF which have shown seriously suspicious funding activity -- and ONE of these games was canceled by its creators because they, too, thought the whole thing was obscenely fishy and didn't want anything to do with it.

If you don't think that merits deeper inquiry, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

 

[Dragonbums]

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.

That's sad really.

It's a bunch of people who came together to make an ideal come true.
Instead of the community helping them pick themselves back up after each fall, they instead point and laugh at them.

Then wail about how the state of the gaming industry is stagnant.

 

[Dragonbums]

All this hate for the Ouya is sicking and disgusting.

Seriously people, why do you hate the damn thing so fucking much?
It's clear the the people behind the product have their hearts in the right place, but they are pushing in to a hard industry and they are literally babies when it comes to things like this.

While I may not own or care for an Ouya, I am rooting at the sidelines and appluading their efforts to make a mark and carve themselves a nice niche for themselves in this cinder block AAA industry.

All you guys do is sneer and laugh at their attempts yet complain about nothing fresh going on.

Now all these ridiculous conspiracy theories are coming up. What is wrong with people?

 

[Brian Tams]

I'm really not shocked at this point. Ouya has extended their bullshitting to devs now.

 

[lacktheknack]

All this hate for the Ouya is sicking and disgusting.

Seriously people, why do you hate the damn thing so fucking much?
It's clear the the people behind the product have their hearts in the right place, but they are pushing in to a hard industry and they are literally babies when it comes to things like this.

While I may not own or care for an Ouya, I am rooting at the sidelines and appluading their efforts to make a mark and carve themselves a nice niche for themselves in this cinder block AAA industry.

All you guys do is sneer and laugh at their attempts yet complain about nothing fresh going on.

Now all these ridiculous conspiracy theories are coming up. What is wrong with people?

I'm not pointing and sneering, I'm recognizing and analyzing.

And these "ridiculous conspiracy theories" are kind of necessary to explain why there's literally thousands upon thousands of dollars streaming in on two titles from a tiny group of "contributors". The most sane explanations are really bloody unfortunate.

I'm really not shocked at this point. Ouya has extended their bullshitting to devs now.

...you didn't actually comprehend the article, did you?

 

[The Random One]

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.

Someone is definitively being childish here, and it's the ones putting their hands on their ears and saying "NO NO NO NO THERE IS NO SCAM THERE IS NO SCAM EVERYTHING IS FINE WE HAVE COOL GAMES GET SOME"

If there's one thing I've come to respect on the internet, it's humility, because on the internet almost no one has one iota of it. There's nothing that turns me off a company more than constant bragging. Ouya are literally letting something that might be a crime slide only so they don't have to admit that their fund idea might have some holes in it. They'd get a lot more respect from me if they just said "we fucked this up and we're trying to find a way to fix it without screwing anyone legitimately invested into this, but it's hard because these kinds of things are hard".

 

[Tanakh]

Now all these ridiculous conspiracy theories are coming up. What is wrong with people?

Have you read the wikipedia entry of the controversy? ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouya ). Stuff seems really shady on the whole Free the Games Found, and I am guessing after 8.5 mill in kickstarter people want some accountability.

I don't think using a missing person's identity to commit fraud is either ridiculous conspiracy theories or should be taken lightly.

 

[barbzilla]

snip

If it were one game, that would be the logical response. But it's not. There are TWO games operating under the FTGF which have shown seriously suspicious funding activity -- and ONE of these games was canceled by its creators because they, too, thought the whole thing was obscenely fishy and didn't want anything to do with it.

If you don't think that merits deeper inquiry, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

Oh, I see. I was unaware of the other dev pulling out due to strange activity. You are correct, there is something that smells of fish here.

*edit* Upon further investigation, I would say it could go either way. The one dev who backed out could just be covering their collective arses with the comments they made, but who knows. At least I know understand why there is a controversy in the first place though.

 

[RicoADF]

All this hate for the Ouya is sicking and disgusting.

Seriously people, why do you hate the damn thing so fucking much?
It's clear the the people behind the product have their hearts in the right place, but they are pushing in to a hard industry and they are literally babies when it comes to things like this.

While I may not own or care for an Ouya, I am rooting at the sidelines and appluading their efforts to make a mark and carve themselves a nice niche for themselves in this cinder block AAA industry.

All you guys do is sneer and laugh at their attempts yet complain about nothing fresh going on.

Now all these ridiculous conspiracy theories are coming up. What is wrong with people?

I think it's becoming clear the gaming community is a bunch of hypercrits. They say they don't like AAA industry, they want devs to have options and want those without as much disposable income to have options to play games without needing to spend $500 on a system and yet when such a system comes along theres nothing but nit picking and bitching over things that Ouya can't stop.

Sure if theres something dodgy going on then yes Kickstarter (not Ouya because they don't control KS) needs to investigate. Be pissed at the possible trouble makers not the console for trying to help devs get on their feet. They didn't HAVE to offer anything.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Wow, there are Ouya fanboys defending the console's clearly exploitable funding system. I never took the Ouya seriously due to its lackluster PR and underwhelming product architecture. Now its going to be even harder to take the damn thing seriously if people are literally going to defend the Ouya staff for not investigating fraudulent funding.

 

[Amir Kondori]

OUYA is run by idiots. Idiots who don't know how to run a gaming business, who don't know how to market their product, and who don't know how to manage their brand in the slightest. If the OUYA succeeds it will be despite the people running the show.

 

[Amir Kondori]

Now all these ridiculous conspiracy theories are coming up. What is wrong with people?

Did you actually look into the allegations? The allegations are pretty compelling, they are not accusing OUYA of doing anything wrong, they are accusing two developers of funding their own Kickstarter project to get the free money from OUYA's matching program. I would say there is some really strong evidence that something fishy is going on, at least when it comes to Gridiron Thunder. It may all be legit, but if you had the option of a free $50,000 all they way to a possible $250,000, well there will be a strong incentive from some people to fund their own Kickstarter, through friends, family, and multiple accounts, just to gain access to that free money.

Sure, you have to develop a game too, but no one said it had to be a good game. So you fund your own Kickstater, take OUYA's matching funds, put those in your pocket, use the rest to develop the game, you've just pocketed some quick cash.

Again, I am not saying this definitely happened, but there are some very real reasons people believe this may have happened and also some very real motivations for this to happen.

 

[James Joseph Emerald]

The Elementary Dear Holmes kickstarter is looking pretty suspicious [http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=78606477&postcount=62] too. Basically, many of their backers have a profile pic that is taken directly from Google Images, based on their own name.

I find it amusing that the football game developers took a really unsubtle approach, with some backers paying over $10,000 without even requesting a reward, whilst the detective game developers were a bit more subtle, with payments spread over many more backers and the wherewithal to deflect suspicion by reporting their own game when their plan starts to come out.

 

[Dragonbums]

Now all these ridiculous conspiracy theories are coming up. What is wrong with people?

Did you actually look into the allegations? The allegations are pretty compelling, they are not accusing OUYA of doing anything wrong, they are accusing two developers of funding their own Kickstarter project to get the free money from OUYA's matching program. I would say there is some really strong evidence that something fishy is going on, at least when it comes to Gridiron Thunder. It may all be legit, but if you had the option of a free $50,000 all they way to a possible $250,000, well there will be a strong incentive from some people to fund their own Kickstarter, through friends, family, and multiple accounts, just to gain access to that free money.

Sure, you have to develop a game too, but no one said it had to be a good game. So you fund your own Kickstater, take OUYA's matching funds, put those in your pocket, use the rest to develop the game, you've just pocketed some quick cash.

Again, I am not saying this definitely happened, but there are some very real reasons people believe this may have happened and also some very real motivations for this to happen.

I'm aware of the allegations being directed at the devs themselves. However some of the comments here are basically saying the Ouya staff are behind this. Which is starting to get to high levels of idiocy.

As much as the Ouya team want games on their console. I highly doubt they are willing to shell out whatever money it takes to make the game plus an additional 50k to do it.

 

[Dragonbums]

OUYA is run by idiots. Idiots who don't know how to run a gaming business, who don't know how to market their product, and who don't know how to manage their brand in the slightest. If the OUYA succeeds it will be despite the people running the show.

Yes.

A bunch of people, who are are very, very, very new to the console business, are making screw ups along the way like all inexperienced people do, and are trying their damned hardest to make the thing an success.

 

[Dragonbums]

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?

Why would they dump all that money into Kickstarter donations? No really. Why?

This is a problem with Kickstarter. Not a problem with Ouya.

It is not the people behind Ouya's job to make sure that Kickstarter are able to keep track of which accounts are legit, and which ones are fraud.
They also do not have access to any information regarding those accounts outside of user name and profile pictures.

People have been wanting the Ouya to fail since it's fucking inception. For no other reason than because it was a new idea that went against the norm.

I don't care for the Ouya, nor do I have an interest in buying one, but holy damn, this has got to be the saddest thing I have seen in the gaming industry.

 

[Dragonbums]

Now all these ridiculous conspiracy theories are coming up. What is wrong with people?

Have you read the wikipedia entry of the controversy? ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouya ). Stuff seems really shady on the whole Free the Games Found, and I am guessing after 8.5 mill in kickstarter people want some accountability.

I don't think using a missing person's identity to commit fraud is either ridiculous conspiracy theories or should be taken lightly.

I'm talking about the accusations that Ouya themselves are funding these games on kickstarter...to then fund them again with their own money. Which is horribly wasteful.

I don't know why the Ouya is getting the brunt of the accusations that for all intents and purposes is a flaw in Kickstarter than anything else.

That's what I meant about insane conspiracy theories.

 

[Dragonbums]

Wow, there are Ouya fanboys defending the console's clearly exploitable funding system. I never took the Ouya seriously due to its lackluster PR and underwhelming product architecture. Now its going to be even harder to take the damn thing seriously if people are literally going to defend the Ouya staff for not investigating fraudulent funding.

No. The Ouya isn't exploiting anything.
It is the devs involved in Ouya's campaign that is ruining it for everybody else. It isn't Ouya's job to make sure Kickstarter properly identifies which dev donations are legit, and which are frauds. That job belongs to Kickstarter and Kickstarter alone.
The fact that people are putting all the blame of Kickstarter's loop holes on a console that can't control any of that is petty and childish.

 

[Brian Tams]

All this hate for the Ouya is sicking and disgusting.

Seriously people, why do you hate the damn thing so fucking much?
It's clear the the people behind the product have their hearts in the right place, but they are pushing in to a hard industry and they are literally babies when it comes to things like this.

While I may not own or care for an Ouya, I am rooting at the sidelines and appluading their efforts to make a mark and carve themselves a nice niche for themselves in this cinder block AAA industry.

All you guys do is sneer and laugh at their attempts yet complain about nothing fresh going on.

Now all these ridiculous conspiracy theories are coming up. What is wrong with people?

I'm not pointing and sneering, I'm recognizing and analyzing.

And these "ridiculous conspiracy theories" are kind of necessary to explain why there's literally thousands upon thousands of dollars streaming in on two titles from a tiny group of "contributors". The most sane explanations are really bloody unfortunate.

I'm really not shocked at this point. Ouya has extended their bullshitting to devs now.

...you didn't actually comprehend the article, did you?

As you have pointed out in other posts, devs are either donating large sums of cash in order to take Ouya's cash, or Ouya is donating money themselves and committing fraud. The answer to this is a mere *shrug*

In either case, it sounds like Ouya is bullshitting devs to me. And after me being personally burned by funding Ouya and then being given what amounts to a brick in return, I'd say that they've been bullshitting gamers too.