OnLive sold to new company, OnLive, amid layoffs: the full story – The Verge

Sony buys streaming games service OnLive only to shut it down

2015-04-02T19:41:52-04:00

Sony has pulled out its pocketbook to snap up streaming game businesses before, and is doing so once again. Today it announced that it has acquired streaming game service OnLive for an undisclosed sum. Interestingly enough, OnLive will not become some new tentacle of Sony's gaming empire, but is shutting down at the end of the month.

"It is with great sadness that we must bring the OnLive Game Service to a close," OnLive told users in a notice today, adding that it would keep the lights on until April 30th without charge to existing subscribers. With that said, users who purchased the company's PlayPass games won't be able to play them afte …

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OnLive is back with a $14.99 plan to stream your Steam games anywhere

2014-03-05T17:34:36-05:00

OnLive was the poster child for cloud gaming, before its disasterous collapse. But today, after nearly a full year of radio silence, the company which proved that you can play games over the internet has emerged with a new business model. Instead of selling digital copies of games which you can only access through the OnLive network, the company has now launched a unique partnership with Steam to let you stream PC games you already own for a $14.99 monthly subscription. Because the service interfaces with Steam to sync savegames and DLC, you can pick up right where you left off on your computer.

OnLive is done trying to compete with Steam

Th …

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OnLive chairman breaks silence, says the streaming game company ‘expects great things’

2013-03-20T13:35:20-04:00

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It's been seven months since OnLive's famous turmoil, and though the company never stopped streaming in the meanwhile, OnLive's new owner Gary Lauder has maintained a near-perfect radio silence. Today, however, in his very first post on the OnLive Blog, he says the company's back in action, with 90 employees working out of a new Mountain View office and a new SVP of Engineering. Don Gordon, former VP of broadcast solutions at Gracenote and COO at ActiveVideo Networks, is joining the cloud gaming team, and Lauder says OnLive will have a presence at major gaming shows going forward, including the Game Developers Conference next month and E3 in …

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‘The Witcher 2’ finally comes to OnLive today, includes free PC copy if you pay for streaming

2013-02-28T16:13:38-05:00

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We haven't heard a peep out of OnLive since the company's near-collapse last year, but the cloud gaming service has never stopped. Today, the company's bringing its first new title to the platform since September, and it's a pretty good deal to boot. You can now purchase a streaming copy of The Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition to play via OnLive for $19.99, and get a full downloadable PC copy of the game from Good Old Games, too. Even if you decide not to stream the game, you're still getting your money's worth.

The funny thing about this particular game - The Witcher 2 - is that it was actually slated to appear on OnLive nearly two years ago. O …

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OnLive’s assets sold for just $4.8 million, roughly three days before mass layoffs

2012-10-10T02:15:16-04:00

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When we chronicled the collapse of streaming game company OnLive, one source told us that the company's assets sold for a song. They claimed that investor Gary Lauder took ownership of the company for just $4 million. As it turns out, that number wasn't far off. Along with the San Jose Mercury News, we've obtained a copy of the formal letter that OnLive's assignee sent to the company's creditors. Here's what we've learned:

On August 14th, just three days before OnLive conducted mass layoffs, Gary Lauder formed a new company named OL2. Then, he spent just $4.8 million to acquire nearly all of OnLive's assets, all intellectual property, and e …

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Outgoing OnLive CEO Steve Perlman urges subscribers to stay in heartfelt open letter

2012-08-29T07:33:43-04:00

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Steve Perlman, founder and outgoing CEO of the troubled cloud gaming service OnLive, has asked disgruntled fans to "give the OnLive team a chance to regroup." Writing in an open letter sent to OnLiveFans.com, Perlman acknowledges that the company has been through a "difficult transition," but attempts to set the record straight about a controversial legal maneuver that saw scores of employees laid off without severance pay.

"We had critical matters like healthcare in place - with financial support fellow employees arranged themselves - and we even partnered with other companies to set up job mixers and recruiters to help find new jobs," wri …

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OnLive lost: how the paradise of streaming games was undone by one man’s ego

2012-08-28T16:31:15-04:00

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"I'm the one that brought you here. I'm the one that ultimately made decisions, and I'm the one that ultimately takes responsibility. So I am sorry, and it didn't end up exactly as we'd hoped."

Two Fridays ago, Steve Perlman told the 200 employees of cloud gaming company OnLive that it was all his fault. He thanked them for their hard work, and then he had HR show them the door with no severance pay.

Then, through a legal insolvency tool, Perlman transferred all of OnLive's assets to a brand new company and took over as CEO, hiring back only a skeleton crew to keep the ship afloat.

Employees were mad as hell, but not just because they'd l …

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OnLive founder Steve Perlman is out: investor Gary Lauder assumes control

2012-08-27T17:14:14-04:00

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Last week, OnLive said that founder Steve Perlman would stay on as the new CEO, after the company underwent a painful insolvency that resulted in the dissolution of the original cloud gaming company and the creation of a new entity. Not anymore. Steve is "departing to work on his myriad of other projects," according to a new press release release, which presently include a promising wireless technology called DIDO, and possibly other stealth projects at his incubator Rearden Labs. Gary Lauder, the sole investor in the new OnLive, is taking over as chairman of the board, and Charlie Jablonski, the former head of operations, will become COO and …

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Microsoft courts OnLive developers for Xbox and Kinect projects

2012-08-25T21:07:01-04:00

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Microsoft is openly courting developers dumped in mass layoffs by cloud gaming service OnLive, hosting a mixer for potential hires at its Mountain View campus. "We are eager to speak to individuals and teams affected by the OnLive transition," reads a description on events site EventBrite. "With the stunning success of Xbox/Kinect and the accelerated growth of this business, we are looking to add key players who want to make a real impact in creating groundbreaking new products and services."

According to the company, positions are available both in Mountain View and at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Washington. The open call for tale …

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OnLive CEO stays on board to take the company ‘to a higher level’

2012-08-23T16:07:59-04:00

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Cloud gaming company OnLive has revealed to OnLive Fans that it will keep Steve Perlman as its CEO following the turmoil the company has seen over the past week. Perlman's position was up in the air when the company shut down last week and laid off many of its staffers. Since then, OnLive has rehired a number of its employees back after starting a new venture - also called OnLive - which is said to be a complete "reboot" of the company. The company apparently was in debt to the tune of $30 to $40 million, but Perlman says that he is confident the new financial backer will let him take the company "to a higher level."

OnLive's statement also …

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