OUYA launches 'Free the Games' fund to match Kickstarter funds for OUYA-exclusive games

Kickstarter was obviously quite pivotal to the early success of OUYA, with the little indie console raising $8.5 million over the course of their historic Kickstarter campaign, and now it looks like the little console that could is looking to give back to the community that helped make the OUYA possible with their new ‘Free the Games’ fund. The purpose of the fund, which consists of $1 million available to developers, is to match money raised on Kickstarter on any game that promises to be delivered exclusively for the OUYA. OUYA CEO Julie Uhrman explained the reason behind the new initiative in a press release announcing the fund this morning:

There are two reasons why OUYA is on retail store shelves today: we had an innovative idea to build an affordable and open game console for the television, and we found fans who supported our idea and provided the funds to make it happen. Since then, we’ve seen dozens of great games launch on Kickstarter, and now we are in the enviable position of being able to give back AND secure the best, exclusive games for OUYA.

OUYA has seen some mild success lately, selling out of numerous retail channels on launch day last month. However, the OUYA has been often criticized for highly lacking in the games department, with The Verge criticizing the catalogue for featuring “few [games] that work well with a controller and even fewer that look good on your television.”  That analysis is also inline with our own Shawn Farner’s, who drove 150 miles to get his hands on an OUYA only to be slightly disappointed with some of the game play.