Trouble At OnLive [Slashdot]

[DP ServBot]

Lashat writes "News of trouble at cloud gaming provider OnLive is trickling out of various sources. According to Forbes, all employees received their walking papers today. Rumors of a shutdown, buyout, or re-formation as a new company are plentiful, but the company hasn't announced anything yet. The article quotes an email sent to InXile CEO Brain Fargo from an employee within the company: 'I wanted to send a note that by the end of the day today, OnLive as an entity will no longer exist. Unfortunately, my job and everyone else's was included. A new company will be formed and the management of the company will be in contact with you about the current initiatives in place, including the titles that will remain on the service. It has been an absolute pleasure working with you and I'm sure our path with cross again.' OnLive's Director of Corporate Communications told Forbes, 'No, let me be clear. We are not going out of business.'" While the question of whether OnLive-as-an-entity will continue is still up in the air, an internal source confirmed to Gamasutra that OnLive's entire staff has been laid off, and OnLive employees were seen outside headquarters with 'moving boxes.' Kotaku says the company has filed for protection against creditors in California (not bankruptcy, but similar).

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

[Oobgarm]

Read another article that seems to point that Microsoft is buying them up, similar to what Sony did with Gaikai.

[LaughingMAN.S9]

Read another article that seems to point that Microsoft is buying them up, similar to what Sony did with Gaikai.

link?

[Damaniel]

OnLive is an interesting idea, but in a world (well, at least in the US and Canada) where most ISPs throttle and cap data, streaming games can take too large a hit on monthly access limits -- especially when OnLive is forced to compete for those resources with other bandwidth hogs (Netflix/Hulu/etc).

If unlimited access (or at least more generous caps) from ISPs becomes the norm, then a service like OnLive might find its niche. Until then, it's an idea that arrived too soon.

[Jorpho]

OnLive is an interesting idea, but in a world (well, at least in the US and Canada) where most ISPs throttle and cap data, streaming games can take too large a hit on monthly access limits -- especially when OnLive is forced to compete for those resources with other bandwidth hogs (Netflix/Hulu/etc).

But if Netflix can make a go of it, why not OnLive? Why would their bandwidth usage be higher than Netflix/Hulu?