Sony Buys, Shuts Down OnLive

Jay Maynard writes The OnLive gaming service that rose from the dead and became an inexpensive way to get high-end performance on low-end hardware has now been purchased by Sony Entertainment. Their games, desktop, and SLGo Second Life services will all end on April 30, 2015, and be free to use until then."

Comments

The future of console games

[Anonymous Coward]

And this is why I refuse to buy games that require a connection to some corporate server to play.

Re:The future of console games

[LazyBoot]

The only thing that requires Steam to still be around is the multiplayer system Steamworks.

In order to play *any* game bought from Steam, the Steam client must be running and have an internet connection.

That's not true! I have several games on Steam that will run just fine on it's own (I can even copy them to my laptop without Steam installed and they work there too).
Not all the games on steam use Steamworks or any sort of DRM...
Kerbal Space Program is one example.

Re:The future of console games

[rudy_wayne]

And you believe them? Talk about naive...

If they go under they aren't going to give a crap about you and if another company buys Valve and shuts it down they aren't going to care about you either.

It isn't just a question of Valve going out of business.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/...

Sony bought OnLive to get their patent portfolio. It's the only thing Sony cared about. That's why they bought them and shut them down.

No matter what Valve says, the same thing could happen to them. And when it happens, they won't be able to do any of the things they have promised because someone else is calling the shots and they no longer have any say in it.

Re:The future of console games

[hairyfeet]

Uhhh...Valve last I checked is a private company so you can't just pull a corporate takeover like that, and as long as Gaben has a fricking pulse he won't let go of HIS domain. I mean for fuck's sake he has followers making religious icons of the man....would YOU give that up?

Re:The future of console games

[Gadget_Guy]

Name them.

I'm not a big fan of Steam, and if I have a choice I will always prefer a completely DRM-free option, the the grandparent poster was correct. Here is the list of games that you can run without the client loaded. It only took me a second to find this list with Google. (Actually, that's a lie. I used Bing, but that sounds like something that I shouldn't admit here!)

You still need the client to install them, and if you use the Steam backup/restore facility then you also need the client to be logged in.

Re: The future of console games

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, the older I get the more I realise I don't need to constantly update my game library and the more content I am with the good games that I already have.

It sounds more like your standards are just too low and/or your attention span is too short.

Good

[rsilvergun]

and I hope the CEO lost money, but I bet he made out fine. The guy cheated his engineers out of millions. He paid them in stock options while they built the company from nothing and then folded the paper corporation right before the investment money came in.

Re:Good

[kamapuaa]

The original CEO/investor, Steve Perlman, was forced out. The company is surely being sold for a pittance and at great loss for the investors. Even if the idea didn't work out, if the investors/CEOs hadn't made the company, the engineers wouldn't have had jobs in the first place. They can make big money, and in this case they lost a large amount. The engineers just shrugged it off and got another job.

No, Sony didn't shut it down.

[Anonymous Coward]

On Live filed for an alternate bankruptcy protection status and as part of the process sold assets to Sony. Sony didn't come in heavy handed and Buy On Live then shut it down. The headline it inflammatory.