Ouya said last week during Game Developers Conference that the microconsole company would be dropping its problematic free-to-try requirement for Ouya games next month,
according to a blog post.
While the idea of having all Ouya games come with some sort of free component (be it a demo or limited version of a full game) is appealing to consumers, it was a hassle for some game developers who needed to spend extra time and resources (and therefore money) to abide by the rule.
By dropping the requirement, game developers should have an easier time bringing existing Android games to the Android-based Ouya. Developers still have the option to have a free-to-try/play component if they choose to.
"When we started Ouya, we originally decided against [letting devs choose to have a free component]," said Ouya's Bob Mills. "Free-to-try seemed like an obvious choice for an open platform. We knew it appealed to gamers, but it turned out many devs had trouble meeting the requirement, didn’t want to make a demo, or weren’t sure how to monetize their game."
Kellee Santiago, who's head of developer relations at Ouya, said the requirement will be officially dropped in April,
according to a Polygon report. Ouya also changed an exclusivity policy so that developers may now launch Ouya games at the same time as the PC version of a given game.
