The Ouya, an inexpensive gaming console that runs on Android , is the latest experimental hardware project to take the Web by storm. It raised more than $8.5 million through Kickstarter, the crowd-funding Web site, in a campaign that ended early Thursday.

The project first went live on Kickstarter’s site in early July and quickly began attracting game enthusiasts who pledged money to help bring the project from the prototype stages into production. Those who kicked in $95 or more are slated to receive one of the consoles when they are ready to ship next March.

More than 60,000 people have gotten behind the project, and a number of high-profile partners, including Vevo, OnLive and Namco Bandai, a Japanese game publisher, have agreed to work with the company.

But despite the company’s early successes, the tale is far from over.

The company, also called Ouya, will have to convince Android developers, who are already struggling with issues like piracy, to funnel resources into making games that can be played on a TV screen. The company will also have to finish building out the software, app store and payment platform that the machine will run on. It will have to compete with rivals like Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony in the console market, and deal with the expectations of users, who will be anticipating a finished product that works as well as the competition. It will also have to contend with any unexpected hiccups and glitches that could arise and set back production, or unforeseen problems after release — issues that companies as well-staffed and funded as Jawbone, Sony and Microsoft have fielded with their hardware releases.

But first it will have to finish the design of the console and its controllers, something that is still being considered with input from gamers and users who are following the project.

Julie Uhrman, the chief executive and founder of Ouya, which is based in Los Angeles, said she was not deterred by these challenges. She said Wednesday night that the money raised would allow her to build out the company, which now has 10 employees, and prepare to ship and sell the device in eight months. She said Ouya had enough money to guarantee that all 80,000 of the consoles that will be produced will be shipped to the people who have ordered them, through Kickstarter and a Web store.

“We will absolutely be bringing a product to the platform in the coming months,” Ms. Uhrman said.