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Report: OnLive shutting down and selling shares to Sony

Sony is tightening its stranglehold on the cloud gaming market, reportedly purchasing shares of OnLive, which is shutting down for the second time.

Ozzie Mejia

April 2, 2015 6:00 PM

The cloud gaming service OnLive had something of a troubled existence. It never quite resonated with the gaming audience, initially shutting down in 2012. The service attempted to make a comeback less than a year ago with a whole new service in tow. But the dream looks to be over for good this time, as OnLive is once again closing its doors and it will be Sony that reaps the benefits.

VentureBeat is reporting that OnLive is shutting down operations and will sell all of its cloud gaming shares to Sony for an undisclosed amount. The move will further tighten Sony's stranglehold on the cloud gaming market, coming nearly three years after the company purchased Gaikai for $380 million. Sony used the Gaikai purchase to kickstart its cloud gaming service, PlayStation Now.

“These strategic purchases open up great opportunities for our gamers, and gives Sony a formidable patent portfolio in cloud gaming," Vice President of Global Business Development of Sony Computer Entertainment Philip Rosenberg told VentureBeat. "It is yet another proof point that demonstrates our commitment to changing the way gamers experience the world of PlayStation.”

Thanks to Chatty's shurcool for the tip.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

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Shacknews

 reply
April 2, 2015 6:00 PM

Ozzie Mejia posted a new article, Report: OnLive shutting down and selling shares to Sony
- kenclopz
  
   reply
  April 2, 2015 6:38 PM
  
  So, when you say Sony bought shares of a closing company, what can Sony do with that?
  - OzzieMejia
    
     reply
    April 2, 2015 6:40 PM
    
    If they own the shares of the company, they would get the resources that go along with it. So they would basically get OnLive.
  - lord cecil
    
     reply
    April 2, 2015 6:41 PM
    
    intellectual property
    - lord cecil
      
       reply
      April 2, 2015 6:42 PM
      
      also property property
      - Turd Ferguson
        
         reply
        April 2, 2015 7:36 PM
        
        I didn't think they had much of that after the first shut down.
- Old School Jimmy
  
   reply
  April 3, 2015 11:28 AM
  
  What happens to the game access rights of people who bought games from Onlive in the past? I bought several games from Onlive and now the they are shutting down and selling shares to Sony, I have to wonder if I lose all of those games.
  - derelict515
    
     reply
    April 3, 2015 11:36 AM
    
    you likely lose them unless Sony is feeling benevolent. They don't even stream a bunch of OnLive's games (ie PC games) so they can't even comp you a copy on their service.
- shurcool
  
   reply
  April 4, 2015 5:44 PM
  
  Hah, thanks for credit. :)