Ouya Hits $4m While Pandora Device Creator Pans The Idea

This week the meteoric rise of Kickstarter-started Android device Ouya has been the subject of some massive amounts of attention – today the doubts begin. It's Craig Rothwell, part of the team that created the ill-fated open-source handheld gaming device Pandora. His trip down terror lane with the development and production of both the software and the hardware for said device have allowed him to lend some knowledge today to Pocket Gamer on how hard the team behind Ouya are about to have it, $4 million dollars in funding or not.

Speaking up on how the Ouya team expects to be able to present a $99 Android-based gaming device with a quality wireless controller and an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor inside, Rothwell made it clear that it's more than likely a pipe dream. "Even a Chinese semi-slave production line won't hit $99 at that spec, as the big name parts they are talking about are a set cost." He continued by noting that by his calculations, the Ouya team may have to bite the bullet:

"My feelings are that at that price – and remember you have to take off the Kickstarter fees, which brings the console and touchpad-equipped controller in at less than $99 – they will be making a loss on each unit sold." – Rothwell

In addition, Rothwell warns of a possible DOA situation with developers, a situation which he, his team, and quite a few other hardware manufacturers know all too well:

"What they are doing with regards to developer fees is also nothing new; they want to charge developers 30% to release a game on their console. What's the point in doing all that work for their comparatively tiny audience when you can get a better deal releasing on iOS or 'normal' Android via Google's popular Play Store? You might as well get a HDMI cable and an iControlpad and use your super-powered Android Tablet on the TV. You can do that right now, without the need for the Ouya." – Rothwell

Check out the rest of the Ouya news in the timeline below and feel free to head to their Kickstarter page to drop a few bucks on a possible future unit now – but beware! Nothing is certain until it's certain!