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OUYA - A new $99 console powered by Android [Kickstarter ended, $8.5 million funded]

sakipon

Member
The reply:

"You can order OUYA from our website."


No hello, thanks or anything just an automatic reply.
Nice. Their site already looked like a shady scam and now their emails continue the tradition. A classic mistake to only pour resources into the actual product. Customer relations are always worth the extra employees, especially on the age of Internet fame.

Then again, Ouya is surely not the first or the last gaming related business to go this way.
 

1-UP

Banned
TBH your friend missed out ordering for it for a month, they did say after the KS they would sell the product for a little bit more once all the early birds have one.

Nothing wrong there dude, the KS is officially closed.

He was working overseas (oil rig) so he had no knowledge about the deal.

According to the kickstarter page there's still 46124 units left of that deal (even if it's closed). The OUYA team could easily just let him in if they wanted to but... no. :(
 
He was working overseas (oil rig) so he had no knowledge about the deal.

According to the kickstarter page there's still 46124 units left of that deal (even if it's closed). The OUYA team could easily just let him in if they wanted to but... no. :(

duh. you mean the thing where they had 80 000 slots? :-DD those aren't actual units. they would have added more if the number went above 80k. it doesn't mean they've got any units left. have any units even been made yet? :-DD
 

1-UP

Banned
"I'd love to reap the rewards bound to conditions I clearly did not fulfill -- please?" is just not a viable approach.

He missed the deal by 30 (or so) minutes. Keeping your customers happy should always be a priority... but no. One customer lost.
 
I'd say that it's now best to wait and see what happens with Ouya and how it goes, I want one but going to wait and see how the rest of gaf like theirs first, plus I am rather tight for money this month.

He was working overseas (oil rig) so he had no knowledge about the deal.

According to the kickstarter page there's still 46124 units left of that deal (even if it's closed). The OUYA team could easily just let him in if they wanted to but... no. :(

ah right.
 

Boerseun

Banned
Those who want Tegra 4 need to email/post these points to the Ouya site.

1. Tegra 3s gpu is based on a 7 yr old architecture. Tegra 4s gpu will be the first time Nvidia brings its modern gpu architecture and unified shaders to the mobile space. Tegra 3 produces semi decent graphics at smartphone resolutions only when there are minimal resources dedicated to things like framerate, physics, AI, number of enemies and having wide open levels. Pare it up to 1080p resolutions and ideally four person multiplayer gaming and no I dont see how the Tegra 3 is good enough to pull it even okay 3d graphics without massively sacrificing things like physics, framerate, number of simultaneous enemies and friendlies and large rooms (instead of small cooridors) all of which hurts gameplay. Tegra 4 offers unified shaders and a far improved architecture. By all indications it would allow for significantly better gameplay (lots of enemies, open levels, solid physics, 1080p/60fps). Tegra 4 also uses the a15 CPU which is a vastly superior architecture to the a9 architecture used by the Tegra 3.

2. By launching with the Tegra 3, the Ouya team faces a real risk of someone releasing a Tegra 4 box mid 2013 and eating away at the Ouyas sales. It's a nobrainer for someone to do this given how much revenue the Ouya raised even with outdated hardware. The Ouya devs would then have to decide between letting this device eat away at their market, or releasing a Ouya 2 just a few months after Ouya 1 which is a surefire way to piss off your customers and scare off new ones.

3. As someone who forked down $130 for a device that's wont be out for another 8 months, I certainly wouldnt mind having to wait an extra three months to get an exponentially better device. They already have the money. They should make the best possible device they can with it, even if it takes a little bit longer. March 2013 is clearly listed as an estimated delivery date. Key word being estimated. Not a promise, not a guarantee, just an estimate.

4. The Tegra 4 soc goes into production end of 2012, several months before the Ouya launches. The Tegra 4 soc costs $21, same as the Tegra 3 soc costs.

5. OUYA is getting a 30% profit on each game sold from developers. The longer legs the Ouya has, the more money they stand to make in the long run.

6. There is no need to rush the Ouya. I would rather they wait and get more dev support than rushing it out the door and see incomplete software being rushed to be the "first one in OUYA". Any thing developed for Tegra 3 will run flawlessly on Tegra 4. A strong polished launch library would generate good word of mouth and give the console longer legs.

7. This isnt a retail device with a large marketing campaign, the ouyas market is clearly one that keeps up with tech. It's undeniable that more people will buy the Ouya next year if it features a modern soc with current architecture than a one yr outdated one built on a 7 yr old architecture.

8. Given the amount of press Ouya is getting, Nvidia should be eager to have this be a flagship Tegra 4 device to sell that SoC to more manufacturers. If not there are alternatives out already that blow the Tegra 3 out of the water like the SoC in the Vita or better yet the Exynos 5.

In summary, the Tegra 4 soc costs $21. Even if the Tegra 3s price drops to half that by the end of the year, the Ouya team would be well served in the long term to spend the extra $10 to go with Tegra 4. They could sell the Ouya for $120 after release, and it would still sell really well. It would also stay relevant a lot longer and thus have longer legs (continue to sell well into 2014).

Thanks for the suggestion. I mailed them the above and have yet to receive a reply. At least we know a real person is reading it, otherwise I'm sure an automated reply would have been sent by now.
 
He missed the deal by 30 (or so) minutes. Keeping your customers happy should always be a priority... but no. One customer lost.
Thousands of others probably missed the deal by single digit minutes or even seconds. The KS period is just that, a limited time deal to entice people into getting their money in now, not maybe later. It sucks to miss out on things like this, but that's just how it goes. The founder thing isn't that big of a deal...not compared to getting a unit early, anyway.
 
If the only thing standing in the way of all of us getting a Tegra 4 box instead of a Tegra 3 box is an additional $10 per device so around $500k total, I can think of no better way to raise these funds than with another kick starter aimed at current and future Ouya backers.

The Ouya team posts their BOM for the current Ouya vs a Tegra 4 Ouya perhaps with faster or more ram and what it takes to make up the difference as well as how much it may delay the device. They put up the kick starter, if it doesn't get funded, they ship the Tegra 3 build and all the backers of this new kickstarter get a refund, if it gets funded, they ship the Tegra 4 build to all their backers. They also raise the preorder price. That way they let their backers decide what they want.
 

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
I remember you did this exact shtick with the Vita, Colbert. The device is the device is the device, no amount of "BUT LOOK, NEW CHIPSET" emails are going to change that.
 

Shion

Member
If the only thing standing in the way of all of us getting a Tegra 4 box instead of a Tegra 3 box is an additional $10 per device so around $500k total, I can think of no better way to raise these funds than with another kick starter aimed at current and future Ouya backers.

The Ouya team posts their BOM for the current Ouya vs a Tegra 4 Ouya perhaps with faster or more ram and what it takes to make up the difference as well as how much it may delay the device. They put up the kick starter, if it doesn't get funded, they ship the Tegra 3 build and all the backers of this new kickstarter get a refund, if it gets funded, they ship the Tegra 4 build to all their backers. They also raise the preorder price. That way they let their backers decide what they want.
I don't think you quite get what Ouya's main priorities are. If you expect Uncharted, Skyrim and Call of Duty type of games you should look elsewhere. Even with Tegra 4 inside this thing, games like these would always be better on Xbox and PlayStation. Ouya aims to be a good, cheap, media center, a home for indies, emulation and, potentially, the ultimate XBLA-style console.
 
I remember you did this exact shtick with the Vita, Colbert. The device is the device is the device, no amount of "BUT LOOK, NEW CHIPSET" emails are going to change that.

At best an Ouya model 2 or something will be updated in a year or so time, for now I would just setting with what we are given. The developers are already too deep to just go back and be like oh let's update the chip, easy.
 
Haha. I knew that this discussion about a more advanced chipset would come up. But I actually expected you guys would at the least drop the Exynos 5 into the discussion. I am disappoint!
 

wildfire

Banned
Haha. I knew that this discussion about a more advanced chipset would come up. But I actually expected you guys would at the least drop the Exynos 5 into the discussion. I am disappoint!


Well it's just 2 and a half men arguing for it and everyone else is on the fence about ignoring them.
 
Check the comments section of the kickstarter, tons of the people that actually backed the device (you can't comment unless you're a backer) want the Tegra 4 and are willing to pay more for it.

I don't see why a second kickstarter by ouya aimed at raising the money needed to switch from Tegra 3 to Tegra 4 or some other faster chip is a bad idea. If that kickstarter gets funded, the backers clearly wanted Tegra 4 and were willing to pay extra for it and the Ouya team gets the money needed to make it happen. If it fails to get funding, they ship with Tegra 3 and no one can complain.
 

tino

Banned
This is a strawman. Yes Tegra 4 is better than Tegra 3 but Tegra 4 is supposed to come out a month or 2 before Ouya launches. It's impossible for Ouya to launch with Tegra 4 when it is still in the final stages of development.

Actually Tegra 3 was ahead of other quadcore A9 soc but Tegra 4 probably will release behind the competitors such as the Snapdragon S4 Pro or Samsung Exynos 5.

I will tell you why Tegra 3 is better, because google back it with N7. Its a more standardize platform than Tegra2 and maybe Tegra4.
 
Check the comments section of the kickstarter, tons of the people that actually backed the device (you can't comment unless you're a backer) want the Tegra 4 and are willing to pay more for it.

I don't see why a second kickstarter by ouya aimed at raising the money needed to switch from Tegra 3 to Tegra 4 or some other faster chip is a bad idea. If that kickstarter gets funded, the backers clearly wanted Tegra 4 and were willing to pay extra for it and the Ouya team gets the money needed to make it happen. If it fails to get funding, they ship with Tegra 3 and no one can complain.

"Tons" of people is really rather tiny when you consider over 60,000 people pledged. You know the number of people who would pledge for this new Kickstarter? Far, far, far from 60,000. And it would make Ouya look bad, look like they weren't really sure about what they were doing, like they could change their plans entirely overnight, and like people don't really want it, not when only 1000 people (if you're lucky) pledge for the new Kickstarter. All for something that won't make a jot of difference in any single existing Android game, and will raise costs significantly, keeping the final device from selling for the $99 value that is one of its key selling points.
 

Amagon

Member
Check the comments section of the kickstarter, tons of the people that actually backed the device (you can't comment unless you're a backer) want the Tegra 4 and are willing to pay more for it.

I don't see why a second kickstarter by ouya aimed at raising the money needed to switch from Tegra 3 to Tegra 4 or some other faster chip is a bad idea. If that kickstarter gets funded, the backers clearly wanted Tegra 4 and were willing to pay extra for it and the Ouya team gets the money needed to make it happen. If it fails to get funding, they ship with Tegra 3 and no one can complain.

I can't believe you're still pushing the idea for Ouya to consider starting a other kickstarter for Tegra 4 just when their very first kickstarter ended a few days ago. How about letting them release the console first and see what happens. They have everything planned out on spec/prices already and the talk of pursuing a new chip is just laughable. Their will always be a better chip/technology coming out making today's tech outdated as it is. This is a brand new company here, so I'm more concern on Ouya releasing the system with the specs promise (which I have no doubts) running without no incident. Everybody who donated knew the specs that is accompany to this console so begging Ouya at this point to jump on Tegra 4 is just asinine.
 
He was working overseas (oil rig) so he had no knowledge about the deal.

According to the kickstarter page there's still 46124 units left of that deal (even if it's closed). The OUYA team could easily just let him in if they wanted to but... no. :(

hey <insert name that offers videogames with offers>, I missed last day sales, can I have this game for the discounted price it had?

does it sound rational, background reasons aside?
 
He missed the deal by 30 (or so) minutes. Keeping your customers happy should always be a priority... but no. One customer lost.

I'm sure they'll be crying themselves to sleep tonight, possibly waking up a half hour early to catch some sweet deals on another KS project
 

Jopie

Member
With the relatively low cost of this thing, I think this is going to get annual updates. Anyone who wants a better chip set will only have to wait a year to get one. The only people who would need to update every year are the ones that want the new biggest and best model.

It will be interesting to see if the tablet/cell phone model can work with this device (if that is indeed the route they take)
 

Tobor

Member
"Tons" of people is really rather tiny when you consider over 60,000 people pledged. You know the number of people who would pledge for this new Kickstarter? Far, far, far from 60,000. And it would make Ouya look bad, look like they weren't really sure about what they were doing, like they could change their plans entirely overnight, and like people don't really want it, not when only 1000 people (if you're lucky) pledge for the new Kickstarter. All for something that won't make a jot of difference in any single existing Android game, and will raise costs significantly, keeping the final device from selling for the $99 value that is one of its key selling points.

Exactly. It would be a disaster to start a second Kickstarter now.

Everyone who backed the project backed it with knowledge of the specs. You bought a Tegra 3 box.
 

wildfire

Banned
Actually Tegra 3 was ahead of other quadcore A9 soc but Tegra 4 probably will release behind the competitors such as the Snapdragon S4 Pro or Samsung Exynos 5.

I will tell you why Tegra 3 is better, because google back it with N7. Its a more standardize platform than Tegra2 and maybe Tegra4.

That maybe true but Tegra 4 will have all the features needed to support DirectX 11+, OpenGL 4.X, and PhysX.

Just for that alone it makes Stephen Colbert's petition worth listening to but in the end I think it's an unreasonable demand that will do more to harm the Ouya's prospects during 2013 than help it.

We sill don't know how many years they are going to wait before launching a new console. Preferably they wait atleast 3 years and take no longer than 4.
 

1-UP

Banned
hey <insert name that offers videogames with offers>, I missed last day sales, can I have this game for the discounted price it had?

does it sound rational, background reasons aside?

Same price.

All he wanted was the founder emblem next to his username but no... instead they (OUYA) lost one customer.
 
Same price.

All he wanted was the founder emblem next to his username but no... instead they (OUYA) lost one customer.

I'm sorry but that sounds ridiculous. It's like if I miss a preorder by 30 minutes and say that because they wont see my golden weapons online they have lost a consumer.
 
didnt you know? this is the generation of self entitlement?

Sometimes i feel people purchase some things due to recognition rather than because they dig the product. Notable examples are games that suck but give you easy achievements/trophies and so on.
 

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
Same price.

All he wanted was the founder emblem next to his username but no... instead they (OUYA) lost one customer.

So because he doesn't get an emblem next to his name, he won't purchase the product he wanted. Baby, bathwater, throwing. Not sure why a business should even try to pander to such a fickle flyby would-be customer.

When you make an exception for one person without any great reason, you make an exception to everybody that then finds out about that. Welcome to the real world.
 
He was working overseas (oil rig) so he had no knowledge about the deal.

According to the kickstarter page there's still 46124 units left of that deal (even if it's closed). The OUYA team could easily just let him in if they wanted to but... no. :(

You think they already created 90,000 units and were waiting for them to be sold so have a bunch "left"? What do you think the kickstarter money was for?
 
So because he doesn't get an emblem next to his name, he won't purchase the product he wanted. Baby, bathwater, throwing. Not sure why a business should even try to pander to such a fickle flyby would-be customer.

When you make an exception for one person without any great reason, you make an exception to everybody that then finds out about that. Welcome to the real world.

Well, if they added a preorder having to pay at this point, it should still be a founder technically, i guess. Either way it's a minor thing. What is it for, bragging on forums to tell people: "stfu, i'm a founder" or what?
 

1-UP

Banned
I'm sorry but that sounds ridiculous. It's like if I miss a preorder by 30 minutes and say that because they wont see my golden weapons online they have lost a consumer.

Big difference between pre-order and funding a project.

Good customer service is so important.
 
Big difference between pre-order and founding a project.

Good customer service is so important.

A little more than that one sentence would have been nice, but your friend missed the Kickstarter. Only backers have the founding emblem. He didn't back it, therefore he doesn't get an emblem, regardless of the circumstances. He can still get a console and a controller. The only thing he doesn't get is the emblem, which is specifically reserved for those who did back the project while it was open.

I definitely do think that they could have said a hello and a sorry while explaining why they are not able to make an exception for him, though.
 
Big difference between pre-order and founding a project.

Good customer service is so important.

No, there's no difference. Except to one's e-ego. Honestly. At this point (at this point) you're funding the project with a preorder aswell (if it requires money) So it's pretty much the same. Hell, everyone that came in after the kickstarter goal ended it not a "true founder" either way... so what is it, a shiny badge for everyone to see? that's what matters?
 

Herb

Banned
The official Ouya site may be the ugliest I've ever seen. I'd rather look at a 90s webpage with tons of smilies/counters and crap.
 

sykoex

Lost all credibility.
Great OUYA support...
not
.

My friend missed the kickstarter deal so he contacted the OUYA team via email:

"Hello,

I missed the kickstarter deal where you get the console, controller, reserved username and founder emblem for $99 plus international shipping.

Please tell me we can work something out. I would love to have a founder emblem next to my username.

Best regards,
****"


The reply:

"You can order OUYA from our website."
I do think they should of had a much more polite reply. Especially since they're probably getting absolutely swamped with emails like this from Johnny-come-latelies right now, it'd make sense to write a more thought out auto response.
 

fritolay

Member
Big difference between pre-order and founding a project.

Good customer service is so important.

You are making a big deal about nothing. I am sure they are getting many many emails, and yes more than one sentence could have been nice. Maybe the intern kid didn't copy and past something. Get over it.
 

Lonely1

Unconfirmed Member
Exactly. It would be a disaster to start a second Kickstarter now.

Everyone who backed the project backed it with knowledge of the specs. You bought a Tegra 3 box.

A better SoC would be a very nice surprise, though. Tegra 3 is fine now, I have my doubts about it going well into 2013 for a device that will mostly play Android games.
 

1-UP

Banned
I don't exactly see what was bad customer service? Unless anything other than "yes sir, right away!" is bad...

The have over 46000 units left so the OUYA team could easily just let him in if they wanted to but... no. Keeping your customers happy should always be a priority, but not for OUYA.

They lost one customer and hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.

Whatever.

Let's just agree to disagree.
 
The have over 46000 units left so the OUYA team could easily just let him in if they wanted to but... no. Keeping your customers happy should always be a priority, but not for OUYA.

They lost one customer and hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.

Whatever.

Let's just agree to disagree.

They have ZERO units "left". No units exist yet.
 

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
Keeping your customers happy should always be a priority, but not for OUYA.

And keeping the thousands of customers that donated during the projects formative month happy with their pledges that ensured an exclusive little founder emblem next to their username is what they are doing.

By giving your buddy that exclusive little thing, post Kickstarter, just because he came too late to the party, would make a great many more pissed off, giving one of the few tiny perks to supporting this thing with nothing concrete to it at all, away to johnny-come-latelys if they made doe eyed sad faces for long enough.

Try thinking about the bigger picture rather than trying to justify what is essentially a little temper tantrum over not getting (absolutely meaningless) things exactly how they're wanted. The product is still available for purchase, for the same price.
 
A better SoC would be a very nice surprise, though. Tegra 3 is fine now, I have my doubts about it going well into 2013 for a device that will mostly play Android games.

Then you must think developers are going to abandon the millions of existing Android device owners who won't have Tegra 4 devices yet? It's gonna be years before any significant number of games support Tegra 4 or any of the other next-gen GPU's. And, this device won't mostly play Android games, it won't play any of them without rooting the device. It'll mostly play Ouya games, which will all always play at full quality on the Ouya.
 
Big difference between pre-order and funding a project.

Good customer service is so important.

You know what's also good? Sticking to the terms as given. If they make the exception because X, the KS period then means nothing and many of the rewards also mean less or even nothing. That leaves them in a position where they have now deceived backers who pledged during the period set forth right at the beginning, about a month ago. Sure, the message received was curt, but it wasn't rude...certainly not bad customer service, as you say. Did your friend just not feel like stepping up until half an hour after? Seriously? Do they not have the internet anywhere he was during that time or did he just procrastinate just a bit too long? This is just like bitching because you just barely missed a sale price.
 
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