Ouya CEO Shares Thoughts of Mobile Gaming Not Providing an Emotional Experience

[Akshay Masand]

Apple’s iOS devices are being seen as mobile platforms that are leading a revolution in the gaming industry by many. The CEO of one upstart gaming company says the shift to mobile has resulted in a wave of games that lack the emotional depth one can experience in traditional consoles, which is another way to look at the issue completely.

Speaking at Engadget’s Expand conference, Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman panned the state of mobile gaming, saying that the experience users get on tablets such as Apple’s iPad and iPhone isn’t as fulfilling as what’s possible on consoles. Uhrman explained the issue by saying the following:

You're not having an emotional experience on a tablet. You're not engaged. It's more of a distraction.

According to Uhrman, part of keeping the emotional is keeping the controller as an integral part of the experience. There are quite a few companies which have introduced controller peripherals for both Android and IOS devices, bringing a more traditional aspect to mobile gaming. However, these devices largely see sparse support from developers, who can’t typically afford to develop exclusively for controllers.

Uhrman continued by saying the Ouya consoles very design lends itself to greater emotional investment in a game. It’s made from aluminum and according to Uhrman, the cold feel of the metal upon picking up the device immediately gets gamers feeling something about the game. This is coming from someone who describes herself as an old-school gamer, saying she would like to see the industry turn back to the television as the primary gaming portal. The rise of mobile operating systems and their open-to-all development paradigm represents a real opportunity for the gaming sector. She continued by saying the following about her company’s upcoming console:

We want to really enable creativity and bring games back to the television, but we wanted to do it in an inexpensive and accessible way. We wanted to bring the best business model — mobile — to the television. That means you have to build something that's incredibly powerful and yet inexpensive.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the console, it’s an Android 4.0 powered console that is one of the greater success stories in crowdfunding site Kickstarter’s history, hitting a $1 million funding goal in eight hours, with a new supporter roughly every 5.59 seconds. It’s said to ship to early backers in late March and several thousand developers are said to be looking to port or make games for the console. The concept at a smaller level competes with the many rumors of Apple’s play in the gaming industry. We’ll have to wait and see how things turn out for gamers by being patient though ultimately.

Source: AppleInsider

[highboi]

There's no emotions in games anymore because everyone wants to make a game where you have to pay to progress.iap is killing gaming for me. The only games I have on my iPhone and iPad are emulators downloaded from cydia.

[BhadKarma]

The games here get dull real fast. Emulators I agree are a good way to go.

The pay in app stuff, really kills games.
Same with the lack of game, in the games.

[exNavy]

I'd argue there has never been emotion in any game ever. Leave your house and experience emotion. Make connections with humans.

[RudeGerbil]

Telltale Games' The Walking Dead is on the AppStore and it does provide an emotional experience.

[Gamemaster77]

I'd argue there has never been emotion in any game ever. Leave your house and experience emotion. Make connections with humans.

Then you have never played any of the good games. The most emotional game I've ever played is probably Heavy Rain on the PS3. It really makes you feel for the characters.

[BhadKarma]

Then you have never played any of the good games. The most emotional game I've ever played is probably Heavy Rain on the PS3. It really makes you feel for the characters.

I agree. I've been into games like real life. Not that I'm a pathetic loser... But why spend so much time in a game you love to not feel for it. I don't know just my opinion. Few RPG's I played got me tied up few times...

[necktweaker]

If there was ever emotions in video games, I'd argue that the emotions were lost when developers started caring more about graphics and using the newest engine than actual gameplay or storyline. That happened well before the iPhone/iPad.

[nat130]

There's no emotions in games anymore because everyone wants to make a game where you have to pay to progress.iap is killing gaming for me. The only games I have on my iPhone and iPad are emulators downloaded from cydia.

Totally untrue; there are plenty of games out there that convey emotion and are more than just distractions; they just don't exist on mobiles.
The mobile market doesn't really allow for emotional engagement because of the nature of the platform - you don't want some Heavy Rain-esque game as a time-killer on the commute to work, you just want some simple, fun jump-in jump-out gameplay.

Yes, console/pc gaming is using DLC and other ways to bleed money from you, but it's nowhere near as prolific as on mobiles.

"Mobile Gaming" and "Gaming" are vastly different with regards to their intention and execution.

[PokemonDesigner]

The games here get dull real fast. Emulators I agree are a good way to go.

The pay in app stuff, really kills games.
Same with the lack of game, in the games.

I agree. And I add that they also want a crappy noob friendly friendly multiplayer and absolutely no campaign. This is why I am slowly starting to hate everyone.

[highboi]

Totally untrue; there are plenty of games out there that convey emotion and are more than just distractions; they just don't exist on mobiles. .

I was referring to mobile by it self, consoles gaming is different as I really get into a few games, like far cry 3, I felt for that guy, just imaging being in his position.

[brbortscheller]

I totally agree. To me surprisingly the most emotion involving games are Nintendo's Legend of Zelda series. Really feel the characters and gets you involved. New mobile games are just get as far as you can and start over repetitive games. Distractions. Need to bring back television console gaming!

[nat130]

Yeah, but all of that emotion is conveyed through better and bigger hardware and budgets. Mobile gaming doesn't need that.
Here's a weird analogy - big title PC/console games are like books that you want to focus on when you have spare time to fall into the story, whereas mobile games are like cheap magazines you find on a bus that you can just have a quick whip-through to kill some time.