Ouya to make free-to-try feature optional in April

Ouya's free-to-try component, which allows users to play games on the console without first paying, will be made optional in April, the company's head of developer relations Kellee Santiago said at the Game Developers Conference today.

According to Santiago, the console's makers have learned many lessons from their missteps launching a new console, and have spent the past year implementing changes and improvements. Among them are changes to the console's free-to-try component. Currently, all Ouya games are required to have some kind of free-to-play aspect, whether it be in the form of a free demo, has in-app purchases or is completely free.

"In response to developer feedback, in order to give more flexibility to game-makers to decide what content they want to make on Ouya, starting April we're making the free-to-try component optional," she said.

In addition to this, the Ouya team introduced changes to the console's exclusivity deals so that games exclusive to Ouya can still be launched concurrently on PC. The company has also started weekly online hangouts in which developers can talk to people from Ouya's developer relations team, ask questions and learned how to develop for the platform.

The Ouya is a console that runs on the Android operating system. It officially launched at retail on June 25, 2013.