Ouya, the Android-powered, crowdfunded indie console, arrives in stores today, but shipping snafus mean many backers have yet to receive their consoles, threatening to cast a cloud over a big day for the machine. It could be another two weeks before all backers have their consoles.
Backers, particularly those overseas, had already sensed trouble getting their Ouyas before launch, but with the console now available to the public, and funders still waiting on theirs, Ouya was compelled to address the matter in a backers-only message earlier today.
“I am pissed,” founder Julie Uhrman wrote, “Some of you have not yet received your Ouya, and to you, I apologise.” She goes on to say that the consoles were delivered to a distribution partner in May “and since then they have been in their custody. We paid for shipping, yet the deliveries remain incomplete.”
Ouya backers are pissed, too, letting the company know about it on its Facebook page. “My early backed console from KS still has not arrived, point of fact,” wrote one backer, from Canada. “It only just shipped late last week and I am now going to be waiting until July 10 till I get mine. I know another person who backed it after me who is still waiting also.”
Uhrman says Ouya tripled the size of its customer service team to respond to backers’ concerns. “I’m told that despite our best efforts, it may take another two weeks or more for some of these units to arrive,” Uhrman wrote.
In the same message, Ken Stephens, the head of operations for Ouya, said “the vast majority of those who haven’t yet received Ouya are international backers.” rumours have sprouted regarding comprehensive delays or holds by some customs agencies, but Ouya has not said anything, officially, about such problems.
Kotaku reached out to Ouya representatives earlier this morning to ask for more detail on international delays and additional comment. Any the company makes will be updated here.
“All of these units have left Hong Kong,” Stephens reminded, “and you have received your tracking email.” Stephens estimated 15 to 17 days of transit time once the units left their partner in Hong Kong. Ouya is manufactured in mainland China.
Regular customers who are interested in getting an Ouya may be out of luck too. It and its controller are listed as out of stock on Amazon and at GameStop, although it appears to be in stock for ordering online at Best Buy.
Comments
14 responses to “Late Deliveries To Ouya’s Backers Cast A Shadow Over Console’s Launch”
I backed them and whilst I would live to have my console now a successful retail launch will do more for the long term of the console than me having one now. I read the kickstarter page and became a supporter. To me this meant some obvious differences to a customer. Wish them success and look forward to getting mine soon.
Mine arrived yesterday…. Remember now that my wifi is crap in my living room….. I need to stop playing trials long enough to dig around and check out whether It is worth more time investment…
Damn sucks to have to wait longer than you thought for something you really want. Also the world is way more impatient than it used to be. Not sure which of my points is the most relevant
Mine also arrived yesterday, and I wasn’t even a backer. No sign of the second controller.
PIssed me off something chronic that it forces you to enter a credit card just to use the system. Yay for # generators.
Yet to find a decent game though.
It does? i have had my Ouya nearly a month and it has never asked me for my credit card number.
Powered up and began the registration process, ie username/password/email. Then takes you to a screen asking for credit card # or redeem a code. Couldnt find a way to bypass asides from faking a CC number. There are a number of forums deriding this requirement, but the official word is basically ‘tough cookies’.
Apparently if you registered a dev account prior to having a Ouya, you can use those credentials and it won’t ask for a CC number (seems only part of the registration process, not the login).
I messaged customer service about the lack of a secondary controller. They emailed me back very quickly stating that they had sent out the early backer consoles (Comes with the first controller) without the second as to fulfill orders on time. The secondary controllers are to be sent out at a later date. Wish they’d originally said this and let everyone know.
I received this email from them a couple of days ago:
If you’re receiving this note, you’re very likely an OUYA’n who placed an order for at least one additional OUYA controller to go along with your OUYA console.
For that, we say “thank you” — and — unfortunately, due to an overwhelming number of you ordering additional controllers, there’s a good chance that you will receive your OUYA console (which includes with one controller) BEFORE receiving your additional controller(s).
We thought you should know. Sucks, we agree — but — the good news is that you’ll be receiving the latest controller(s) with the most up-to-date firmware (in English –> we’ve made some improvements to our controllers based on gamer feedback and you’ll have the latest version).
Although we don’t yet have a specific date on when the additional controller shipments will begin hitting doorsteps, we anticipate the first wave to leave our factory in 2-3 weeks. When they do start shipping out, you should expect to receive a new shipping confirmation email to alert you that it’s on the way.
So — we apologize for the confusion — we felt we had to make this call in order to: a) send your OUYA as soon as possible and b) give our production facility the extra time needed to crank out the additional controllers to fulfill 100% of our early backer and pre-order shipments. Hopefully you understand.
Until next time, thanks for your patience + support — OUYA on!
Huh, I never got that email…odd. Never the less, controllers are on their way! Huzzah!
I received mine on Friday, second controller and all oddly enough. I also was able to log into my account and it has never once mentioned credit card details at all.
I had actually become very cynical of the whole thing after reading all the bad press and reviews online but I have been converted. Shipping problems aside it’s a great little machine. Been enjoying MarioKart64 and StarFox64 again with a controller was worth the $99 in itself IMO. And The Little Crane that could is awesome.
To be fair it was a kickstarter, you were not buying a console from Microsoft/Sony.
I think this is the least of the issues they are facing.
got mine yesterday too, also missing the second controller. not to worry, sideloaded a bunch of humble bundle games i had on my phone, i had totally forgot how rad another world is.
See my response as above mate 🙂
So I moved back in March and asked their support to update my address… clearly they failed as it was sent to my old address (I have a redirect on, so hopefully this will not be a problem, but still how frigging useless, not even a please confirm your address message). I got my email 18 days ago now and the tracking link (that they failed to include in the email with the tracking number) still only says it’s been dispatched from China.
As some-one pointed out on the kickstarter comments thread, they’re all being sent from China, so they are almost ALL of the orders will be international shipping, but they clearly want to treat any-one not in the US as second class.
“I am pissed,” founder Julie Uhrman wrote:
At this point I honestly don’t beleive this, I honestly think this is just a PR exercise and Julie realy doesn’t give a shit about the fact that non-US backers don’t have their orders before they managed to ship a stockpile to the US, and the comments are full of people who ordered a second controller that failed to show up. At this point they are just another part of the industry, far more interested in making as much money as possible than treating those who helped make it happen with any decency.
I am still sort of glad I backed the project, as I think it was responsible for ideas like the Nvidia Shield, GameStick, and proving that an android console is a good idea… but at the same time I am wishing I’d saved my money for something where they would live up to their end of the deal. Maybe I’ll change my mind If it it awsome (assuming it ever arrives), but at this point it is looking like a good idea executed so poorly that it destroys the good in the idea entirely.
I’m still waiting for mine. Got the tracking number about 16 days ago and it still doesn’t do anything on the DHL website. I tried using that follow up method they sent out to backers with tracking number problems and all it tells me is that it was processed through Hong Kong on the 11th of June and that’s it. Funny how DHL Express apparently takes longer to send a package to Australia than f–king Hong Kong Post does.
got mine yesterday and the tracking number still doesn’t work.
got mine yesterday… fired it up last night… both my controllers arrived… with batteries…
overall i was pretty impressed with the whole lot… all up until i went to play some games… they’re all pretty lackluster in my opinion… even the “killer app” Tower-whatever its called… big steaming pile of meh!
had a few laughs playing you don’t know jack with the wife however, but thats not exactly an exclusive or the first time we’ve played that game :\
not really interested in buying another copy of final fantasy III or the bard’s tale… so there really aren’t many compelling reasons for me to keep using it right now
before anyone says “get emulators”… no… i have all original hardware that i’d much rather play classic/retro games on, thanks anyway…
Anyone here received a limited edition console yet? Still waiting for mine and the tracking number doesn’t work on either site