GameStick 'absolutely certain' to make August release window
Playjam Head of Games Sameer Baroova is "absolutely certain" his company's left enough breathing room to ensure the GameStick will meet its August release window. The $80 Android console was originally due in April, but multiple delays have seen it beaten to market by the much higher profile Ouya, which launched earlier this month.
"There was a mad rush, and we underestimated the whole power of being a public product," Baroova told Joystiq, regarding the delays. The device's Kickstarter saw it raise nearly $650,000 compared to its $100,000 goal, courtesy of just less than 5,700 backers.
"The orders and pre-orders, and the number of backers on Kickstarter meant that our volume went larger, and the product feedback also meant that we had a lot more suggestions than we had originally planned [for]," Baroova added.
While he couldn't commit to specifics, Baroova told us he'd be comfortable saying more than 50 games will be available for GameStick at launch. '"At the moment we'e curating the [GameStick] store, taking care to bring content that makes sense on TV," he noted. "There are loads of Android games, but not everything will be a perfect fit for a brand new platform."
As for Ouya, Baroova said the two devices are targeted at different audiences, with Ouya designed for "hardcore" players, and GameStick intended for the more "midcore and casual."
"Simply put, [Ouya is] trying to be a fifth console, to have very console-y games. The controller is such that it's just another controller made to play long games, in a similar fashion to how games are played on PS3 and other TV consoles. [Our] controller, we purposefully made it to look the way it looks because of our belief that it'll take people back to the era of easy and abundant gaming, the NES era. So we have that kind of retro look. [W]e wanted to be portable. One of our USPs over Ouya is that [GameStick] is portable."
According to a Kickstarter update today, Playjam is ready "barring any final issues" to begin a pilot run of 300 units next week, and then go straight into its Kickstarter production run.
