Ouya is perhaps one of the best, if not the best, third-party gaming console on the market. It's in direct competition with next-gen consoles like the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 but offers users a completely different gaming experiencing. In a panel at GDC Next in Los Angeles earlier this week titled "Why Now Is the Best Time Ever to Be a Game Developer," Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman and "Developers' best friend" kellee Santiago explained how Ouya is working with creators to make releasing games a simple process and why it's "never been easier" to create a game than it is right now.
"It really has never been easier to build games before," Uhrman said, via IGN. "Between the growing number of platforms and the growing number of engines to the fact that every single person today is a gamer. I truly believe that. I think one of the things that mobile and tablets did was create an instance for us to always engage and to play something."
Uhrman believes that Ouya can help play a role in the emerging indie developer market in order to bring "emotionally immersive, inventive, innovative games back to the television and allow any single developer to do that." This week the console passed the 500 games mark and Uhrman says thousands of independent developers have downloaded the Ouya Development Kit.
Santiago, a former developer herself at Journey and Flower creator thatgamecompany, explained that, despite three successful and critically acclaimed releases, thatgamecompany was "broke" and had trouble finding money to make a fourth game. Part of the reason she has become such an Ouya advocate is to help talented creators find a path to develop powerful and immersive games.
"I think now is a great time to be a developer, because we as developers have so many options today on where we can distribute our games and connect with our players. Ouya has really been built from the ground up in that era of thinking," Santiago said, "recognizing that the rightful place of game developers is in front of the platform because they are what make being a gamer so great. We realty wanted to make a console that got out of the way of this relationship between the game makers and the gamers."
Despite the console having a rocky, yet overly successful, start the developers are excited to create such an environment for developers.
"I hope that people have seen that even through the ups and downs of this past year, the changes we have been making are always to improve the developer experience," Santiago added. "And that's what we'll continue to do. The nature of the company is that we can react very quickly to developers' needs, and as challenges or issues come up from our developers about the storefront, about the pipeline for publishing, all that stuff, we react quickly and improve iteratively. Constantly. That's what will continue to propel Ouya to greater heights in the space."
