Cloud gaming service OnLive said Wednesday that Sony has bought many of its assets, and the company will wind down operations on April 30. (Full disclosure: I began subscribing to OnLive late last year.)
Users will continue to have access to OnLive’s services until April 30, including the OnLive Game Service, OnLive Desktop and SL Go, and the company’s Second Life browser. After today, no further subscription renewals will be charged for any of these services, the company said. Users whose subscriptions renewed on or after March 28 will be refunded.
Why this matters: Onlive’s subscribers are losing a unique service that had no real competition—perhaps for good reason. At its inception, OnLive was a pioneer: Network-based computers like Citrix had existed for some time, but no one had adapted the same principles to gaming. Users, armed with either a microconsole or basic PC, could tap into OnLive’s network of servers and render a high-end game at maximum settings without the need to invest in a high-end PC.
via Cloud gaming pioneer OnLive sold to Sony, will cease operations April 30 | PCWorld.