Many indie developers who released their games for Android’s Ouya console have released their sales numbers in the first month.
Although the numbers were low compared to what you may consider high, indie developers in general were quite pleased with the sales.
A title known as Towerfall seems to be getting most of the attention in terms of critical praise, positive responses from gamers and raking in 2000 sales at $15 each. Developer of Towerfall Matt Thorson said in an interview with Edge, “ A lot of high profile people in games have been praising the game, which is of course fantastic, and there’s been a lot of talk among gamers as well. Launching on Ouya got me a lot of attention, and the sales have been better than expected.”
Due to the sales numbers, Thorson will bring Towerfall to the PC at a later date since he earned about $21,000. Shay Pierce, developer behind the port of Bennet Foddy’s Get on Top to Ouya, the Ouya itself takes 30 percent of the sales from each game, which is why Thorson didn’t receive the full amount. According to Gamasutra, Pierce said he received 9700 unique downloads with 520 sales, bringing in $728 with Ouya’s part of the 30 percent part of the bargain.
Meanwhile, Adam Sprag – developer of Hidden in Plain Sight – has sold 1,900 copies of his pay-what-you-want local multiplayer title. Sprag said, “My gross sales are $4,381, which indicates an average price of a little over $2,” he noted to Gamasutra of his game that costs a minimum $1. “Although I didn’t know what to expect, I’m happy with the sales numbers. I think they are better than I’d hoped for.”
Not all expectations of Ouya sales were pleasing to every developer, however.
Out of the 14,000 total sales, Ryan Wiemeyer of Organ Trail wasn’t sure his 501 copies sold was worth the trouble of porting the title to Ouya. Wiemeyer said, “Organ Trail was a pain to add controller support to and that was the bulk of the port.
E McNeill. developer of Bombball, was also underwhelmed by his sales figures, apparently making $30 each day before Ouya’s cut of the deal, which amounts to $21 per day. ”I let my expectations get inflated over time, and now I’m a little disappointed with the sales,” McNeill said in the Gamasutra article.
Although it did not rake in the big bills, David Marsh, developer of Nimble Quest, was still happy to port the title despite making $427 after the first week. “It was pretty much a snap to port it [on Unity],” Marsh said.
Marsh also had positive things to say about the Ouya. “I would wholeheartedly recommend the Ouya to indie devs that have an existing pipeline to Android and are interested in what the Ouya does. It’s probably not going to be a huge source of income compared to other platforms,” Marsha said, “but it’s dead-easy to submit a game and get it into the store. It’s the only console right now with a truly open store, which makes it interesting and worth supporting if you want to see more open platforms.”
Marsh added, “It’s also a great device to have just to check out all sorts of neat experimental multiplayer games that are already popping up. I think it’s a step in the right direction.”
What do you think? Does this pump you up for the Ouya? Do you think it shouldn’t have ever been on Kickstarter? Let us know in the comments below.
