With the lifting of the national ban, we will slowly see the game enter the television field. This is a brand new arena.
The transaction of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s investment in US game startup company, Ouya, was confirmed by the two companies. Both Ouya and Alibaba declined to disclose the scale of the investment, but they did not deny that the Wall Street Journal reported $10 million. Ouya's more than 1,000 games will be integrated into Alibaba's "Aliyun" operating system, a custom version of Android that will be used in the company's set-top box "Tmall Box."
Ouya's initial strategy was to focus on the "$99" living room "microhost" product, which has had a mediocre market response since its introduction in the United States in 2013. The alliance with Alibaba apparently deviates from this strategy, but it is more in line with a partnership formed by Ouya in 2014, which provides games to the original competitor Mad Catz.
Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman and Alibaba spokesman Samantha Verdile accepted the Re/code interview and answered many questions. The following are the main contents of the interview:
Re/code:Ouya has some difficulty in catching up in the U.S. market. Why is it possible to do better in China?
Ullman: For game developers, there are plenty of opportunities around the world. Prior to this, Western game developers focused on the U.S. market because they understood it. But this does not mean that this market has the fastest growth. For Ouya, we have many markets that are full of opportunities, including China, India, and Latin America.
Re/code: Is Alibaba's current efforts in games limited to China?
Verdier: This is part of our broad strategy. We want to expand digital entertainment services, which helps us increase the user interaction of set-top box products. This set-top box is sold by Tmall in the Asian market.
Re/code: So, this investment will combine the content of Ouya with the other contents of Lynx Box?
Verdier: Yes, our company has been established for 15 years and is well versed in China and the entire Asian market. We know that this transaction will be a wonderful combination given our coverage, business scale and resources.
Re/code: In your opinion, there is no game, which developers or what features are particularly suitable for the Chinese game market?
Ullmann: This requires some trials and some failures. In China, video games are a new field. The national ban has just been lifted last year. We will slowly see the game enter the television field. The content consumption mode of Chinese users has always been different from that of Americans. Free games are a standard, not a special case. We know that action and adventure role-playing games are very popular in China, so we will try some of these games, we will try other games, and then observe user feedback. This is a brand new arena.
Re/code: Since China's console market is so new, do you think that Sony and Microsoft in China are more direct competitors than the US or other markets?
Ullmann: I don't think so. You also need to consider the entry price (RMB 799, or about $125), the content maker's brand, and how the game was developed. This market is more accustomed to downloading games and playing at any time. This is a way that American game console players are not familiar with. Our game will not sell for $60, most of them are free to use, and many games support in-app purchases.
Re/code: How does Alibaba's set-top box compete, including compared to other set-top boxes and game consoles?
Verdier: I totally agree with Ullman that there is no direct competition at all.
Re/code: Will the cooperation between Ouya and Xiaomi last year be affected by this investment?
Ullmann: No, we will continue to support Xiaomi. In fact, we expect that there will be some games on the Xiaomi platform soon. In addition, we will announce many other partners. (David Beckham)
The transaction of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s investment in US game startup company, Ouya, was confirmed by the two companies. Both Ouya and Alibaba declined to disclose the scale of the investment, but they did not deny that the Wall Street Journal reported $10 million. Ouya's more than 1,000 games will be integrated into Alibaba's "Aliyun" operating system, a custom version of Android that will be used in the company's set-top box "Tmall Box."
Ouya's initial strategy was to focus on the "$99" living room "microhost" product, which has had a mediocre market response since its introduction in the United States in 2013. The alliance with Alibaba apparently deviates from this strategy, but it is more in line with a partnership formed by Ouya in 2014, which provides games to the original competitor Mad Catz.
Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman and Alibaba spokesman Samantha Verdile accepted the Re/code interview and answered many questions. The following are the main contents of the interview:
Re/code:Ouya has some difficulty in catching up in the U.S. market. Why is it possible to do better in China?
Ullman: For game developers, there are plenty of opportunities around the world. Prior to this, Western game developers focused on the U.S. market because they understood it. But this does not mean that this market has the fastest growth. For Ouya, we have many markets that are full of opportunities, including China, India, and Latin America.
Re/code: Is Alibaba's current efforts in games limited to China?
Verdier: This is part of our broad strategy. We want to expand digital entertainment services, which helps us increase the user interaction of set-top box products. This set-top box is sold by Tmall in the Asian market.
Re/code: So, this investment will combine the content of Ouya with the other contents of Lynx Box?
Verdier: Yes, our company has been established for 15 years and is well versed in China and the entire Asian market. We know that this transaction will be a wonderful combination given our coverage, business scale and resources.
Re/code: In your opinion, there is no game, which developers or what features are particularly suitable for the Chinese game market?
Ullmann: This requires some trials and some failures. In China, video games are a new field. The national ban has just been lifted last year. We will slowly see the game enter the television field. The content consumption mode of Chinese users has always been different from that of Americans. Free games are a standard, not a special case. We know that action and adventure role-playing games are very popular in China, so we will try some of these games, we will try other games, and then observe user feedback. This is a brand new arena.
Re/code: Since China's console market is so new, do you think that Sony and Microsoft in China are more direct competitors than the US or other markets?
Ullmann: I don't think so. You also need to consider the entry price (RMB 799, or about $125), the content maker's brand, and how the game was developed. This market is more accustomed to downloading games and playing at any time. This is a way that American game console players are not familiar with. Our game will not sell for $60, most of them are free to use, and many games support in-app purchases.
Re/code: How does Alibaba's set-top box compete, including compared to other set-top boxes and game consoles?
Verdier: I totally agree with Ullman that there is no direct competition at all.
Re/code: Will the cooperation between Ouya and Xiaomi last year be affected by this investment?
Ullmann: No, we will continue to support Xiaomi. In fact, we expect that there will be some games on the Xiaomi platform soon. In addition, we will announce many other partners. (David Beckham)