We haven’t heard much about OnLive lately since that report about the first buyers of Galaxy Note 4 getting free access to OnLive gaming. That was back in October last year and looks like things haven’t been pretty well for the cloud gaming company. OnLive used to be worth $1.8 billion. It was once estimated to be with that value but for some reasons, it got into a lot of debt so they had to lay off employees and were sold for a low price of $4.8 million in 2012.
But in a weird twist of fate, Sony Computer Entertainment took interest and purchased the company from the venture capital group Lauder Partners, the new owners . Sony is in the process of buying OnLive’s assets. Included are about 140 patents for cloud gaming services in the US and international markets. OnLive operations will discontinue services this coming April 30. Subscriptions after March 28 will be refunded according to the company.
If you’re an OnLive gamer, you’ll notice that subscriptions are no longer being renewed. By the end of the month, the SL Go (Second Life), OnLive Desktop, and OnLive Game Service will no longer live. “OnLive will engage in an orderly wind-down of the company and cease operations” as written in an official statement. No word if CloudLift Enterprise will close or when but looks like it’s included.
We have no information how much Sony paid for OnLive. This isn’t the first time Sony is buying a gaming company though. Also in 2012 when OnLive was sold, rival Gakai was purchased by Sony for $380 million. OnLive being part of Sony now can help the latter in its own gaming failures. Sony seems to be making these “strategic purchases” to improve on their game.
OnLive used to have more than a million registered subscribers and gamers but we don’t know how many will be affected. We just know the average gamers now are at 1,600. We also have no information what will happen to OnLive’s 80 employees. There are talks Sony may absorb them because there are a number of positions in the company but nothing is certain yet.
Read OnLive Game Service Shutdown FAQ for further information.
VIA: TechCrunch
