OnLive is back with CloudLift, a new streaming service that ties into your Steam library
OnLive is back. The service will tie into Steam, with games from your existing library transferring over to CloudLift.
OnLive is back. The company was sold in 2012, with its new owners trying to pivot the company with a new strategy. OnLive is being "respawned" with a new service called CloudLift.
Like Remote Play on PS4, CloudLift enables gamers to download and play their games locally on capable systems, while "enjoying the benefits of OnLive's portability when they are not." That means PC gamers can start a game on their rig, continue playing on a mobile device, stream their game at a friend's house, and then finish it back at home. The service will tie into Steam, with games from your existing library transferring over to CloudLift.
CloudLift will only be compatible with 20 games at launch, including all the Batman: Arkham games. According to Engadget, "dozens more" are planned. Compatible games can be played at home through your Steam account, and then played via the cloud through OnLive.
Crucially, "this change has also allowed us to on-board games more quickly due to not having to modify the games," OnLive explained on their blog. "This should allow us to deliver games on their retail launch dates." OnLive's anemic library is certainly one reason why the first version of the service didn't catch on.
Of course, OnLive isn't going to be free. Using CloudLift will cost $15 a month, although the company is offering a free trial. OnLive's "all-you-can-eat" PlayPack is still available. For $10 a month, it offers access to all of OnLive's games, much like a Netflix subscription.
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replyAndrew Yoon posted a new article, OnLive is back with CloudLift, a new streaming service that ties into your Steam library.
OnLive is back. The service will tie into Steam, with games from your existing library transferring over to CloudLift.-
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Something something cloud. Something something games on toaster.
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2.0.
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It won't happen, but I would love for their to be a console app for this someday.
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Yeah, it's not clear; even after reading the blog source. It kinda sounds like they're going to sell digital games to download (ala Steam), have cloud save capabilities, which will allow you to jump into the OnLive style stream and play anywhere on any supported client device.
I'm not sure where "Compatible games can be played at home through your Steam account," comes into play since that's not mentioned in the blog.
I mean, this is a good concept, but it doesn't sound like they're necessarily overcoming OnLive's original challenges either.-
It's saying games you buy there can be played normally on a PC via Steam. This is a good evolution of the OnLive service that I personally am looking forward to. I have a fairly capable PC and don't want to degrade quality on it by streaming when I don't have to. But at the same time I have used OnLive on my tablet with a gamepad hooked to it and for that situation it is fantastic. This is the best of both worlds here!
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If you travel a lot and can't shell out the dough for a truly capable gaming laptop, $180/mo for the ability to play your normal heavy-requirement Steam games on something as small as an ultrabook is fairly attractive. With a good enough connection it could also let you delay the cost of upgrading for a bit without making you miss out on the latest-and-greatest games that insist on pushing your system to the limit.
Also buried in the blog announcement is the fact that they're going to support MMOs and even SecondLife. Unfortunately, they're going to charge $2.50/hr to use that part of the service. While the feature itself is cool, I doubt many people will be springing for that. A single day's 8-hour WoW session will wind up costing you $20, and I've seen people easily exceed that even on weekdays. At that rate you could just sign up for faster internet and buy a better computer while you were at it. -
It's actually bigger than just that. This could be the signal of a shift in gaming business models. This alone won't change things. But, it's a pioneering effort. They really helped themselves though by partnering, at least to some degree, with Steam.
Perhaps the evolution of the model is to buy a game once (finally!) and play it everywhere, regardless of platform or location.
For that, we can only wait hopefully.
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