Ouya to fund games on Kickstarter through its Free the Games Fund

Ouya is returning to popular crowd-funding website Kickstarter. This time, however, the company seems intent on giving. To promote development for its $99 console, Ouya is kicking off the Free the Games Fund. The company will be supporting games on Kickstarter until its $1 million budget is tapped.

Developers can take part in the programme by emailing the company and agreeing to some terms and conditions, one of which includes having the game be exclusive to the Ouya for at least six months. Other requirements include launching the Kickstarter campaign on or after August 9, 2013 and having it end on or before August 10, 2014.

Ouya will be giving to Kickstarter

The campaign will also have to be completely funded before Ouya contributes to it. The company will essentially match 100 percent of the total amount raised, up to a limit of $250,000. This will continue until the $1 million fund is tapped. Those who raise the most money during the campaign will end up getting an extra $100,000 from the company.

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The money paid by Ouya will be rolled out to developers periodically. Twenty-five percent of the money will be paid when the Kickstarter campaign ends, 50 percent when the game launches on Ouya and the last 25 percent when the 6-month exclusivity period with Ouya ends.

The Ouya itself was made thanks to its wildly successful Kickstarter campaign, which managed to raise $8.6 million, making it one of the most successful campaigns on the crowd-funding website. The money raised even dwarfed the company’s initial goal of raising $950,000. Currently, the Ouya can be purchased from online retailers and costs $99, with an extra controller costing $49.