Sony acquires OnLive

Sony acquires OnLive

Sony is all set to take over the game streaming business. They previously acquired Gaikai, which made PlayStation Now possible, and today a new acquisition has been announced. Sony has purchased the popular gaming service OnLive.

It seems Sony has different plans for this service, though. This is more about patents and technology to improve Sony’s own streaming services, and OnLive won’t exactly be converted into anything else. In other words, they are shutting it down.

This comes as horrible news for anyone who has invested a good amount of cash into OnLive. OnLive sold specific consoles and specific controllers… which only work with OnLive’s gaming service. Theses product will be rendered useless, but at least OnLive is promising a refund to those who purchased these products on, or before February 1st.

The service is shutting down on April 30th and current subscribers get the last month for free.

Opinion: This is really a shame, as OnLive was one of the first to bring us real online gaming. This whole thing makes us wonder if Sony’s decision was influenced by the fact that OnLive was one of the biggest competitors for PlayStation Now.