Samsung’s Linux-based Tizen may not be the most popular operating system ever created but the South Korean tech giant is still betting big on it. And why wouldn’t it? Tizen has been on the market for close to five years now and has proven to be a reliable solution for a variety of devices. To date, Tizen has powered PCs, smartphones, tablets, TVs, cameras, watches, and a whole lot of home appliances. Of course, it’s perhaps best-known as the OS powering Samsung’s Gear S smartwatch lineup. With the upcoming release of Tizen 3.0 and an entire lineup of new, Tizen-powered devices which have been heavily rumored about for months, it seems that Samsung still has big plans for its operating system.
Of course, just having Tizen present on a variety of smart devices isn’t enough to guarantee rising adoption rates. As the tech industry has repeatedly demonstrated in the past, it’s quite easy to get stuck in that magical cycle in which third-party support for a platform is weak because of poor sales and sales are poor because of weak third-party support. Sure, some platforms just magically kick off on their own but they’re just an exception to this rule. So, Samsung needs to spend money to make money, i.e. make the Tizen OS more attractive to potential customers.
This is exactly why the South Korean company has just announced the Tizen App Challenge. In collaboration with Unity, Samsung is offering cash rewards for Android and iOS game developers willing to port their existing popular games to Tizen. Of course, given how the tech giant organized this contest with Unity, participation is limited to developers which are already working with the Unity engine. Other than that, Tizen App Challenge requirements aren’t too strict as Samsung is willing to pay for early ports of any Android or iOS game with over 10,000 downloads on its respective app store. The current prize pool amounts to $185,000 and Samsung is accepting applications by November 21st. First 50 verified ports will automatically be awarded $3,000 while the grand prize will net you $20,000. This contest is currently only limited to Tizen developers in India but it’s possible that Samsung will introduce similar initiatives in other territories in the future.