Julie Uhrman needed $ 950,000 from Kickstarter in less than a month to make her dream of an affordable , free-to-play gaming console a reality . She got it in eight hours -- and nearly $ 8 million more after that . `` It was the opposite of 'Field of Dreams , ' `` said Uhrman , a gaming-industry veteran and former vice president at IGN . `` It was , if you come , we will build this . '' And so was born Ouya , a $ 99 console that 's shaped like and is just a hair bigger than a Rubik 's Cube . It runs on Google 's Android operating system and requires developers to offer a version of their games for free . Kickstarter backers will be getting their Ouyas later this month and they 'll go on sale to everyone else in June . Speaking here at the South by Southwest Interactive festival , Uhrman said she got the idea for Ouya ( pronounced OOO-yuh ) in response to a video-game industry that to her had grown stale . No new consoles were announced at last year 's E3 gaming conference by the big three console makers ( Nintendo , Microsoft and Sony ) . In recent years , almost all the most hyped and popular games have been sequels . And the rise of mobile gaming has been limited , turning video gaming into a solitary exercise rather than the social one she remembered growing up . `` The TV is the best screen for playing games , '' Uhrman said in an interview-style keynote with editor Joshua Topolsky of tech blog The Verge . `` I remember growing up , playing with my sister ... I feel like we 've lost that . I want to bring back the world of TV gaming . '' For gamers , the strength of a console often boils down to the games they can play on it . To that end , Uhrman said 7,000 developers have signed up for Ouya accounts , from big publishers who create multi-million-selling titles like `` Halo '' down to the smaller independents . The only requirement , she says , is that the game must be free or offer a free trial before the player has to buy it . How the game will make money -- whether it 's through ads , in-game purchases or sales after a free trial -- is up to the developer . `` You should n't have to pay so much money to try out a new game , '' she said . `` We believe that every single game you should try before you buy . '' During the hour-long interview , Topolsky pushed Uhrman on whether the Ouya , which will have 1GB of RAM and run on an Nvidia Tegra 3 chip , will be powerful enough to run the kind of immersive , expansive shooters that have made big gaming releases as lucrative as blockbuster movies . Her answer came in two parts . `` Yes , '' she said . `` And why would we ? `` Those experiences are great on those devices . You would n't want to play those games anywhere else . But we are going to have exclusive games . ... We 're going to have inventive , creative , exciting content that no one else has . At $ 99 , it 's not an either-or decision . '' Uhrman said some top developers will be reworking popular titles for the Ouya . Others , some of whom have never made games before using Android , are crafting new titles , she said . `` We 're going to have our version of those games , but it 's going to be different , '' she said . `` We will have a first-person shooter ... game that you are going to want to play for hours on end . '' Ouya also has partnered with game-streaming site OnLive , meaning that some graphic-intensive games could be playable on the device via the cloud . Throughout its development , Ouya has been open to its public , inviting them to help make suggestions . When backers pointed out on Reddit that the color-coded buttons on the console 's controller were no good for color-blind players , Ouya replaced them , making the four buttons correspond with the O , U , Y and A in its name . An Ethernet port was added when some backers outside the United States said they had no access to Wi-Fi , and a USB port was added for the `` hardest of the hardcore '' players who will want to store more games than the console can handle . Increasingly , gaming consoles are becoming all-in-one entertainment hubs for the living room , and Ouya will try to compete in that arena as well . The company already has partnerships with Flickster and Vevo and is in talks with major players like Netflix , Amazon , Hulu and Google . `` We 're pretty confident we 're going to have ( that content ) at launch or close to launch , '' Uhrman said . Between now and then , she 'll be focusing on two goals . `` We want you to love it , '' she said . `` And we want it to work . ''
Ouya is a $ 99 gaming console that will require all games be offered for free . The console , which runs on Google 's Android system , raised $ 8.6 million on Kickstarter . Founder Julie Uhrman says she wants gaming on TV to be social , fun again . Kickstarter backers get Ouyas late this month ; it 's on sale to everyone in June .