Will OUYA Spell Oh No for Nintendo Wii U?

Most pundits blame weak Nintendo earnings and tepid Wii U sales on Microsoft Xbox and Sony Playstation 3 competition.

The VAR Guy

February 1, 2013

2 Min Read
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Most pundits blame weak Nintendo earnings and tepid Wii U sales on Microsoft Xbox and Sony Playstation 3 competition. In reality, Nintendo (like most home game console makers) is caught in a changing landscape where kids and adults try games for free on iPhones and Android smartphones before potentially buying mobile upgrades. Does that spell the end of at-home consoles? Certainly not. In fact, the Ouya (a $99 game console based on Google Android) could take the best of the mobile gaming model and move it into U.S. living rooms.  Can traditional channel partners learn from this aspiring business strategy? Hmmm…

First, some about Ouya details. The Ouya software development kit has been downloaded 22,000 times — not a huge number in the Linux world, but pretty amazing for an emerging gaming device. So far, there are about 166 early games that Ouya watchers can check out. The categories include action RPGs (Role-playing games), brawlers, 4-player shooters, TCGs, platformers, word games, puzzlers and some other cool stuff ya just can’t put in a category.

While traditional home console games can cost $50 or more, Ouya games offer free test drives. In theory that means consumers won’t feel “ripped off” if they wind up rejecting or disliking a game. Frankly, The VAR Guy thinks Ouya’s business model is a huge threat to Nintendo, Xbox and Playstation — though kids do seem addicted to Xbox Live gaming…

Now let’s apply the Ouya example to the business world. Workers from all walks of life test, embrace or reject millions of apps per day on their smart phones and tablets. What if VARs could plug into cloud marketplaces and aggregator services where they, too, could test, embrace or reject cloud applications in an easy way?

That’s  the reality we’re all marching toward. From Ingram Micro Cloud to aggregator services powered by Parallels‘ software, the opportunity to pick and choose cloud applications with no major hurdles will get easier and easier.

Oh, and yes: The VAR Guy plans to open his wallet for OUYA.

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