It seems that everyone wants a piece of the emerging market that is affordable gaming consoles powered by Android, we’ve had the OUYA, the GameStick and now, here comes BlueStacks with the Gamepop. You might know BlueStacks as the company responsible for bringing Android apps to Windows, now they’re hoping to bring Android games to your TV. What’s interesting here however, is that BlueStacks have somehow managed to come up with a different model, despite a few Android gaming options being out there already.
Where hardware is concerned, things are a little different as there’s no controller included with the console – your smartphone becomes the controller. To me, that doesn’t sound appealing one bit but, it does bring a certain convenience along with it. As of writing, there’s no word on just how much the console itself is going to cost but, BlueStacks have outlined its subscription plan. Throughout the month of May, the console is free as long as you sign up for a $6.99 a month subscription. The Gamepop is available to pre-order from today.
This subscription model is what really sets the Gamepop aside from all the rest. For $6.99 a month you’ll be able to play games from developers such as Halfbrick, Glu Mobile, OutFit7, Intellijoy, Deemedya and others. The revenues of this subscription fee with be split 50/50 with the developers, depending on gameplay time. In-app purchases have become big features of Android gaming, and with the Gamepop publishers will be able to keep 100% of the profits gained from them. I don’t mean to sound cynical but, do companies really need more encouragement to push these purchases?
After the end of this month, the console will have an up-front cost as well as the subscription fee but, there’s no word on what that is just yet. There’s also no concrete details on just what’s inside this little guy so, stacking it up against the OUYA and the GameStick is pretty difficult. Take a look at the trailer below and let us know what you think in the comments.