DRM

Digital Rights/Restrictions Management (DRM) is a term used for any technology that strives to limit the usage of product to only the manners the creator intended it. DRM is used to restrict things like:
 * What devices the product can be used on
 * If the product can be converted into another format
 * The amount of time the product can be used

The OUYA utilizes the OUYA Sofware Development Kit (ODK or OUYA SDK) to validate if applications and games have been purchased via the OUYA Discover Store. This process is outlined in the Purchases section of the OUYA Developer Documents.

Offline vs. Online Verification
The ODK allows developers of applications and games to ask the OUYA servers if they have a valid "receipt" showing that the user has purchased the title. There is a big of a divide in the community as to the interpretation of the purchasing documents when it comes to saving an "offline token/flag". The source of the issue is the following excerpt for the documentation:

"An important thing to note is that a gamer's set of entitlements can change without the game running, thus doing things like saving off a "game has been purchased" flag and using that as the authoratative truth doesn't work correctly. Be sure to query the servers to ensure users are presented with the correct set of options (eg: "buy now" or "play full game")"

However, further clarification from Tim Graupmann on the March 9th, 2015 Developer Hangout states that offline tickets can be used. However, care should be taken by the developer to check for receipts and only utilize the offline tickets when there is not an internet connection.

DRM Types
There are three types of DRM available ( Online DRM / Offline DRM  / No DRM ) and currently there is no way to tell which DRM model is used without purchasing and trying the game.


 * Online DRM - This form of DRM requires the OUYA to be online in order to play the game. If the device is not able to connect to the internet then the game will either load in demo mode or refuse to load.


 * Offline DRM - This form of DRM caches the initial receipt validation after its first validation. This type of DRM is the most flexible as it allows the game to be played even when there is not an internet connection available.


 * No DRM - Free games and some paid titles may choose to simply not utilize DRM in their games and instead use the honour system and trust the end user to pay for games they like.