Ouya changes policy: Games no longer need free demos

When the Android-based microconsole Ouya launched last year, its creators promised every game would have a free-to-try option — that is coming to an end.

In April, Ouya will stop requiring developers on its Discover store to have a demo. Studios will now have the option to provide a free-to-try version of their games if they want to do so. During a panel discussion at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco today, Ouya software chief Kellee Santiago said that her team has learned a lot of lessons about how customers spend money and how to create a bustling ecosystem for publishers. Removing the free-to-try requirement is just one of the steps the console maker is enacting to improve its platform for the people producing games.