OnLive has been acquired by Sony

Amongst the first pioneers of on-line cloud gaming, OnLive is to be acquired by Sony and it will shut down its gates on the 30th of April.

Why would Sony acquire all assets of OnLive only to close the shop? Is this a hint to some sort of new streaming service that Sony will announce soon? According to the announcement on the OnLive website, it seems so – ” After five years of uninterrupted service, the OnLive Game Service will be coming to an end. Sony is acquiring important parts of OnLive, and their plans don’t include a continuation of the game service in its current form.”

Services will remain throughout the 30th of April, but with extremely limited coverage for customer service over the next 27 days.

The phrasing is definitely a major hint – ” in its current form” tells us that the service will continue, but we will most likely see a re-branding, or a complete makeover. More detailed information about the takeover can be read on OnLive’s support page right here.

“As the first-ever game streaming service of its kind, everyone who has ever played a game using OnLive has contributed to the technology and its evolution in some way. We’re immensely proud of what’s been achieved and extend our heartfelt gratitude to you for being a part of the OnLive Game Service.” – ended the announcement.

After 5 years, users that have purchased hardware, acquired subscriptions, and even games will not receive a refund – states the FAQ sheet. But if you purchased a Steam game, that certain game will still be playable by using your Steam account.

With the closing on the 30th of April, everything will be deleted – from payment data to game achievements.

It’s sad to see such a great pioneer company go away in the nether. Shortly after its launch in 2010, the company filed for bankruptcy. OnLive was founded by Steve Perlman – who has also worked for giants of the industry like Microsoft and Apple.

In 2012 OnLive was being used by 1.75 million users world-wide – with a monthly subscription of $9.99, users could have played any game available in their roster by streaming the whole thing on their PC’s. It’s hard to believe that such a great idea has ended – hopefully, Sony will not let us down and they will continue Perlman’s work in another form.

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Roxanne Briean

I am a geek, a gamer and a writer. I have always been fascinated with the online community. At the moment I work as a full-time writer and study interior design. When I'm not scouring the net in search of interesting new gadgets and software I spend my time in MOBAs or drawing.