80°

OnLive owed $30 million to $40 million, was facing imminent shutdown

At the time of its insolvency last week, streaming game company OnLive was in far greater trouble than was publicly known.

The company owed $30 million to $40 million to various creditors and had little money to pay them. It had failed to find a buyer despite shopping itself around and was facing a complete shutdown of its services, said Joel Weinberg, CEO of Insolvency Services Group.

Read Full Story >>
mercurynews.com
NYC_Gamer4260d ago

OnLive was bound to be a failure

Jazz41084260d ago

Another failure and about to be sued by onlive for patenet infringement and the reason sony was able to buy so cheap. Its coming mark my words.

ConstipatedGorilla4260d ago

Dude are you new here? You can't talk bad about Sony, or you'll get hit by the disagree fairy.

Thatguy-3104260d ago

380 mil is cheap? Don't you think sony would do there research before purchasing? I highly doubt they will suffer. But what are the patent infringements though? I mean there could be more than one clouding service. Sony will be implementing gaikai differently than what onlive was doing. I'm curious to see if these patents are simple and stupid and just an act of jealousy of a failure of a company.

Soldierone4260d ago

OnLive can BARELY pay off their creditors and has maybe 20 people working there. They have absolutely no leverage at all, and you think they are going to go and sue a multi-billion dollar company for some extremely general patent?

Sony has a way out (Implementation and Remote-play) and WAY more money to hold out in court. it isn't worth the risk to OnLive. They would barely be able to hold up in court, and if they lost they'd have no money to cough up so the court won't even hear it.

kwyjibo4260d ago

OnLive can't really do much about patent infringement because Sony is Gaikai's parent. (Sony clearly overpaid though, given OnLive's dire finances)

Immersion could hit Sony over rumble, because none of Sony's patents could touch Immersion, because they did nothing else but rumble. OnLive has got an online service, a microconsole with a controller. Sony no doubt will have patents in that space with which they'll be able to hit back with, given Sony's presence in media and TV, I'm sure they've got their own streaming patents too.

nukeitall4260d ago

@Soldierone:

That is exactly the sort of company that would sue!

One desperate enough and also one that has assets to sell to others that will do it for them!

If OnLive can't do it, it is hard to believe Gaikai is in any better shape. Sony should have bought OnLive out of the two, at least they could have paid far less for more customers. A desperate company will sell for cheap!

BitbyDeath4260d ago (Edited 4260d ago )

@kwyjibo,

Immersion already pulled that pin years ago which got resolved in 2007.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 4260d ago
JBSleek4260d ago

Gaikai is now first party which means that only people who have Sony ecosystem can use it and will likely lack third party games now or modern games at that.

Not a great option for variety gaming.

Xperia_ion4260d ago

"Not a great option for variety gaming"

You meant a variety of gamers who play on different platforms ?

OC_MurphysLaw4260d ago

I am still trying to figure out how they got out of their debt via this legal loop hole? I mean they F'd a bunch of people including all the employees that got laid off. Now they get to continue on as a smaller company and just wash their hands of the previous debt? Am I missing something here cause I just don't see the justice in that.

Firelotus24260d ago

I hate to say it, but that's America for you.

ABizzel14260d ago

More than likely the company that bought them out is going to cover a portion of the debt, other factors such as the massive layoffs, potential pay cuts, smaller staff and lower operating cost will add up to pay the rest of the debt. Finally government loans will help keep the business from going under, as the government generally aids businesses out of financial crisis with vastly extended loans.

Now is that enough to pay back the millions owed, I don't know, but it's a start. If not then in a few years we'll see a bunch of OnLive lawsuits.

Soldierone4260d ago

An investor bought them, all that money is used to pay the creditors. Almost everyone from the company is gone, anyone still with the company was "re" hired by the new company.

They had 200 people, now they have maybe 20 people. Each person was making AT LEAST 30 thousand + a year, that alone is cutting at least 4 million off the budget. Like stated above, things will stack up. Since they company basically went under, then they have no worries about massive changes like this.

OC_MurphysLaw4260d ago

Do you not find it odd that they found an investor that is willing to hire back (granted for no salary) the main guy "Perlman" who ran the company into the ground?

I mean instead of selling the company to any number of companies (MS, HP and Sony all made offers from what I understand) he holds out for 1 billion...runs the company debt through the roof, files for chapter ABC, fires everyone...and gets a deal done that keeps himself at the helm. You have to wonder how much he was paying himself leading up to this too. Just feels dirty...

Soldierone4260d ago

If I'm not mistaken he was fired too? The first "leaks" of it happening were from a person that got fired, but later someone else came to the table and said he was apologetic and was fired with the company?

If not then yeah it is dirty, but we see it all the time. Enron or whatever it was called, the major CEO's walked away with millions and millions of dollars and no worries in the world while the company crumbled under them. CEO's will always do this. Basically any "profit" a company makes goes into their pockets.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4260d ago
MAJ0R4260d ago

Well OnLive was a very risky investment, especially when the technology for streaming games efficiently isn't really there yet. There's much more of an incentive to buy the game instead.

CrimsonessCross4260d ago

Yes.

Once we have internet speeds up to par for it (and probably without data caps), a solid platform that won't get shut down or anything too unstable and everything else needed (the only two I can think up at the moment XD) that is when we'll be able to support these types of medium.

We're doing fine with digital and some people don't really even enjoy doing THAT as some games have DRM and stupid protection methods attached to them.

Show all comments (23)
290°

6 console flops that were actually amazing, from the Sega Dreamcast to the Neo Geo Pocket

DS:
Sometimes life just isn't fair. Vincent Van Gogh went completely unappreciated during his lifetime despite his obvious genius; Jesus - a man who could turn water into wine, don't forget - was nailed to a cross and left for dead; while Steve Brookstein has only ever had one number one single, despite winning the very first series of The X Factor. Now what's that about?

Read Full Story >>
digitalspy.com
WilliamSheridan2976d ago

Dreamcast was definitely ahead of its time....

Knushwood Butt2976d ago

Loved my Neo Pocket Colour

Spent hours on card fighters clash games

InTheZoneAC2976d ago

the dreamcast was not amazing:
-It's graphics were in between ps1 and ps2
-the controller felt so narrow and skinny
-no dvd drive

I don't know why people act like it was anything more than another overrated undersold flop of a console. My friend had one because "next gen" and I told him I'm just waiting for PS2.

He always talked about graphics, non stop. Of course when I played it did look better than anything I've seen before, but that was it. The games were ok at best. I didn't like NFL 2K's control scheme compared to Madden's.

Even as a kid I predicted this console would die off in 2 years, well what happened...

filchron2976d ago

You must have hated arcades. Youre probably real fun at parties /s

between PS1 and PS2? no. DC had much better filtering than grainy ass PS2. compare the DOA2 on PS2 and the DC and then revise that wrong statement buddy. and the sad thing is PS2 had TWICE the ram of the DC and the 480p signal from DC still came out WAY cleaner than PS2's.

InTheZoneAC2975d ago (Edited 2975d ago )

arcades are definitely fun. Went to celebration station any time we could :)

"you're" probably real fun at parties...because wtf does that have to do with anything...

if dreamcast was any good it wouldn't have died faster than the wii u has...

don't be so defensive, I'm not the one that controlled everyone else not to buy it lol

DivineAssault 2975d ago (Edited 2975d ago )

DC ran games at 60FPS and was an arcade players "Dream" come true.. For the first time, arcade games were surpassed by a console.. Saturn had it 1:1 if you imported with the 4mb cart.. I wasnt in love with the DC controller but i had a 6 button layout 3rd party i used for all those great fighting games.. PS2 was superior in hardware but why is it games like Grandia 2 played like crap on there? Just like the original that played way better on Saturn than PS1..

Yes they both died but they werent bad machines.. Sega was always a middle gen console.. Genesis was meant to compete with NES, Saturn was meant to 1 up Nintendo again but the PS deal fell through and there it went.. VMUs, online, high res 60fps gameplay, 4 control ports... They were ahead of their time..

FlyingFoxy2975d ago

That's the main reason that DC failed, because people lost faith in Sega after the 32x, MEGA CD & kinda the Saturn. People were hyped for the PS2 and that's a big reason why DC failed to sell, it really didn't have many poor games at all and most were good to great.

Not sure what you're on about with the graphics either, most games were just as good looking as ones on PS2.

The only thing you could say was lacking on the DC was storage on the GD roms and maybe they could've added a second thumb stick. There wasn't really anything wrong with its graphics capability for the time, don't forget it came out way earlier than the PS2.

You kinda lost credibility by saying the DC had grainy graphics.

Godmars2902975d ago

Part of the DC's failure was the loss of faith from the core gaming audience coupled with finical choices which left Sega in bad sorts, but another was the lack of a similar hook to the PS2, namely movie playback. At the time GD roms had the option, remember seeing discs for the format in a few places, and if Sega had included it things might have been different.

People/gamers look at the PS2 and only say/think that the games for it made all the difference, sold well over 100 million of the consoles, but it was DVD movies that tipped the scales as far as the general public was concerned.

InTheZoneAC2975d ago

who said anything about grainy?

Segata2975d ago

I should kick you into outer space for such a ignorant comment.

Picnic2975d ago

Of course the graphics were inbetween PS1 and PS2... because it was released between PS1 and PS2!

The graphics were closer to PS2 level than PS1 level.

In fact, many early PS2 games did not look as good as Dreamcast games. And Jet Set Radio and Shenmue look great for the time to this day.

Picnic2975d ago (Edited 2975d ago )

Your prediction that it would die off within 2 years was not without basis - the MegaCD, the 32x, the Saturn. Sega's past history of releasing expensive add ons, abandoning some of their previous successes (like no new Sonic game on Saturn!), coupled with a new entrant in the market, Sony, meant that, unfortunately, Sega was like the Ghost of Christmas Past to many people. And if you didn't like arcade games, or arcade-STYLE games, or RPGS, there really wasn't all that much on it. It was a bit like having a new NEO GEO in a way- quite good visually, if a little rough round the edges sometimes, but just not as personal to many people as the competition and not having sufficient sense of depth gameswise apart from Shenmue.

iplay1up22975d ago

Um, when Dreamcast came out it was the most powerful system available. In some ways it was MORE powerful than PS2.

GameCube, had more power than PS2, as well as XBOX. PS2 was the weaker of that gen, but it still won, and went on to be the 1 selling game console o all time.

2975d ago Replies(1)
gangsta_red2975d ago

"-It's graphics were in between ps1 and ps2"

Wow, I was all set to read why the Dreamcast was not amazing and then all credibility became lost with your first point.

InTheZoneAC2975d ago

and I fail to see any of your points why it was great, completely disputing the fact that it died because it did suck

gangsta_red2975d ago

The Dreamcast was great because it did have better graphics than the PS2, they had some of the best looking games at that time. Capcom's fighters played flawlessly on the Dreamcast and was the go to machine to play their games because of how fast the gamer played compared to a much slower PS2.

Dreamcast was also the first system where I played Madden online. Which blew my mind at that time since online was mainly a PC thing.

The system was ahead of it's time, Sega channel and the VMU were just a few examples of what made that system so great along with online and the great Sega games that released with it.

The system failed partly due to lack of third party support. Sega burned many third parties by dropping the Saturn so quickly, many third party devs including Sega of America had games in development for the Saturn. The Saturn architecture was already a nightmare to develop for so imagine these devs having to scrap that work because Sega dropped the Saturn.

Sega also burned a lot of retail stores by not only moving the release date of the Saturn up but exclusively releasing the system in only some retail stores. Because of this some retailers KB Hobbies (i believe) refused to carry Sega products.

"..completely disputing the fact that it died because it did suck.."

You made even less points and more opinions based on nothing really and yet you say "facts"?

+ Show (8) more repliesLast reply 2975d ago
blawren42976d ago

Failure is always relative. How many sales makes something successful? "If your not first, your last", or in this case, you failed. I'll admit, I've never heard of a couple of these.

PhoenixUp2976d ago

GameCube made the most profit in its generation. I don't consider that console a flop.

I consider a flop to be a product that has a negative impact financially for a company.

Picnic2975d ago (Edited 2975d ago )

Have you got proof that the Gamecube made the most profit in its generation as, despite how cost effective Nintendo said it was to make a Gamecube, which had no complicated Emotion engine in it nor DVD drive, I would still highly doubt that the Gamecube overall made more profit for Nintendo than the PS2 did for Sony. The mass popularity of the PS2 meant that it was often sold at (a higher price (sometimes 2-3 times the price) of the Gamecube. For a month or 2, you could get a Gamecube and Resident Evil 4 or Wind Waker for just 40 UK pounds (55.55 dollars). And even if Sony could have made a bit more profit overall on the consoles, surely Sony get a cut on the games. With 155 million owners compared to Gamecube's 21 million, Sony would rake it in.

PhoenixUp2975d ago

Nintendo made profit on every GameCube sold since day one while it took Sony a while before they broke even on PS2.

Picnic2974d ago (Edited 2974d ago )

Please can you provide your source? I can imagine that piracy could have eaten in to Sony's profits whereas piracy was close to impossible on Gamecube. But it would have much more to do with that, I think, than with any minor difference in console manufacturing cost versus console price.

Concertoine2975d ago

Nintendo made the most profit that gen but that was largely due to the GBA and not the GC.

Show all comments (37)
30°

Gamer Created a Personal Cloud-Gaming Service, and So Can You

OnLive announced that they would be shutting down their streaming service for good at the end of this month, which has unsurprisingly upset some of the streaming service’s supporters. While some took to griping on forums, OnLive user Larry Gadea decided to take action.

Read Full Story >>
hardcoregamer.com
killatia3292d ago

That pretty cool actually. Glad something cool came out of the demise of Onlive

40°

The End of OnLive - Goodbye & Thank You

OnLive has been acquired by Sony and will shut down all services on April 30th, 2015. Vault of the Gameverse says Goodbye & Thank You.

Read Full Story >>
gameversevault.com