Rose and Time dev pulls game from Ouya marketplace over company's response to Free the Games Fund controversy
Rose and Time has been withdrawn from Ouya’s digital marketplace by its developer Sophie Houlden due to Ouya's response to the Free the Games Fund controversy.
According to Houlden, she has been "stewing on this for a while," and made the decision to pull her game this morning.
“The reason is not because of any flaw of the console (I love it), or the game (the Ouya version may even be the best), or sales (I average 1 sale per day, way more than elsewhere). The reason is because I am no longer comfortable supporting the Ouya company," she posted on her blog.
“It’s not that they put out a tasteless advert, it’s not that the Free The Games Fund is a poor way of investing in interesting developers, it’s not that they shun the very developers they claim to want, it’s not that they support people using the fund that are clearly scammers.
“It’s their inability to admit that they have fucked up. S**t is blowing up on all sides, every single piece of PR that is put out damages Ouya’s reputation more, and the plastic-marketing-smile never seems to come off. They never get serious to deal with stuff. They never change course when things are going down the toilet. They try to have this image of an indie, but it’s only an image."
Houlden goes on to state that she is "constantly telling people" that the console a good piece of hardware , with some "great games" and worth the $100 investment; however, "Ouya are making me look stupid for supporting them. And I don’t like being made to look stupid," she said.
“After reading Julie Uhrman’s blog post last night it became very apparent to me that the company does not support indie developers who need the support most, and that they are incapable of ever correcting their mistakes," she continued.
"I’m simply no longer comfortable supporting the company.”
Houlden said she will continue to make the game available to those who bought Rose and Time through the Ouya service.
Thanks, MCV.