OUYA readies new Kickstarter campaign, will match up to $1m to spur game development for its console

OUYA will launch a second campaign on crowdfunding site Kickstarter next month to accelerate the development of new titles for its Android-based video game console.

According to the Wall Street Journal, every developer who pledges between $50,000 and $250,000 to create a new game will then have their funding matched by OUYA.

The Kickstarter page will go live on August 9 and OUYA will continue to match the funding until the campaign total hits $1 million. If developers fail to pledge this amount by August 10, 2014 – although that’s pretty unlikely – the campaign will be closed automatically.

“The kicker, at the end, is whichever raises the best will get a $100,000 bonus,” Julie Uhrman, CEO of OUYA said. “We’re saying, ‘hey, you’re a rock star.’ ”

OUYA’s original Kickstarter page closed on August 9 last year and raised a phenomenal $8,580,359 from backers. The idea was to create a $99 gaming console that would bring more independent and mobile-style video games to the big screen.

With a remarkably petite hardware design and a dedicated controller, OUYA seemed like a refreshing departure from industry heavyweights such as Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft.

OUYA had some trouble shipping units to its backers in a timely manner, but now that the console is available in brick-and-mortar retail stores, it finally feels like a real and competitive platform. Initial reviews have been mixed, but there’s clearly an opportunity to do something new and different with OUYA – provided it has games.

OUYA’s current game library isn’t bad, but it’s in desperate need of a break-out hit such as Minecraft. TowerFall has filled that void somewhat, but there’s certainly room for more exclusive and high-quality games. After all, without new and interesting titles, hardware sales will undoubtedly falter in the coming months.

Whether developers will flock to the new Kickstarter page remains to be seen – fresh funding always draws interest, but that needs to be weighed up with the extra development time and cost that is associated with creating a game for a separate platform.