Why OnLive's collapse would hurt all gamers - even those who don't use it

Digitally Downloaded writes: "This is something that every gamer needs to be worried about, whether you use OnLive or not, because OnLive’s failure will cause some significant ripples through the industry. Given that the industry is already a shaky one in terms of profitability, this is going to bite deeply."

[napoleon1066]

Disagree with this articles conclusions... they do not follow from the premise. Poorly run companies only weaken the industry. There are a lot of extremely capable companies running cloud based products (hello Apple), and the fact that one small one with very few customers goes belly up will do little damage to anyone else.

[MattS]

That's not how consumer sentiment works. You have a few hundred thousand people suddenly lose access to their games and regardless of whether OnLive was well-run or not, people are going to be more cautious with other Cloud services in the future.

(well said, BTW. I'm not arguing with you for the sake of arguing, but this is an interesting debate to be had :) )

[napoleon1066]

But that's just it... they didn't have any customers. 1,600 concurrent users isn't much of a base. Hardly anyone used the service... they had 2 million people sign up, but #1, that's a tiny install base, and #2, the vast majority of those signups were free accounts that never bought anything. I don't think this is an indictment of cloud gaming so much as an indictment of launching with insufficient marketing, a weak lineup of titles that core gamers already owned, and a really poor definition of what their market was.

[killerhog]

Well that's if you're an idiot uninform consumer who didn't know (or didn't bother doing research) that you were purchasing a license and not really owning the game. Onlive had no hard drive, and it always had to be online, they also specifically mentioned license etc.. You had to have known that if the service goes down you won't have access to the games you bought a license to use. If anything, this might be an indication that streaming or cloud gaming is not the future, as people complained about lag, poor quality, ridiculous Internet requirements, bandwidth caps etc.. Also add in the not really owning the game. Sorry, I want to own my product physically or at least be able to use it well after the service goes down. If Sony doesnt follow the latter, I wont be using their cloud service. I learned the hard way, the pain in the arse buying license games can be. I stay away from games that have a license agreement on the AppStore.

[Soldierone]

Being real....there won't be anywhere close to 100k people angry about "losing" their onlive games.

If there is, its simply people trying to get attention or making their free/99 cent game worth more than it is. You didn't own the game to begin with, so that fuss would have happened even if the service stays.

IF they had 100k strong customers buying games, they would be fine. They wouldn't be strong or huge, but easily breaking even.

[Bigpappy]

I will do nothing to gamers who did not buy into the service. People will just go back to consoles or PC's the way they did before On-live. It is not like the service was ever a big hit.

[timothylittle]

What did gamers do before OnLive?

[Nexgensensation]

on live is future
with EA up for sale and the 3 main consoles giving little competition to one another, I think we gamers are on track for a super console.

[Hicken]

"3 main consoles giving little competition to one another"

I'd like you to explain this, but I'm 100% certain you can't.

You're still welcome to try though. Should be amusing, at least.

[Nexgensensation]

I said little competition
The 360 is on top with the online interactivity with xbl while, sony gives little competition with psn, and little to the psn the wii.

However the ps3 is on top with pumping out more blockbuster franchises. second to that the 360 which give little competition in this category.

Last the wii outsells both consoles while the 360 gives little competition in this category.

All 3 consoles have a stronghold on the market weather if its online interactivity or franchise games, or outselling the competition.

[turnerdc]

I like OnLive. Playtime shows around 550 hours of game time. Great service and I hope it pulls through!

[tachy0n]

me too i hope they recover, i find it nice to be able to play full games on laptops with sh!tty Intel HD graphics, phones and tablets!

[smashcrashbash]

Ummmm. No it won't. It's not like Onlive has established themselves deep enough into the industry for it make that much of a difference. Do you really think some company that was just formed not long ago would disrupt the industry that badly? If they go all it means is that they were weak and the people who can make the cloud gaming work will pick up the slack.It barely has a user base. It hasn't even established itself as a strong competitor. And you want to talk about it damaging the industry? Do you know how hard it is to change or shift a whole industry? I am sorry but Onlive collapsing isn't going to make the impact you think it will.

[BitbyDeath]

Does Onlive even exist outside of america? I've never heard of them.

[hazelamy]

yeah, they're also in the UK and Belgium.
i'm not sure why Belgium, not that they shouldn't, but why only there in mainland europe?

[Soldierone]

I don't see how its bad for us. I see how its bad for streaming services, but thats it. Personally hate the idea of streaming games and never actually owning any games you BUY. OnLive going belly up and barely surviving will make other companies think twice about throwing all the cards in a similar service.

This alone should make all the "next generation will be all digital!" rumors go to hell.

The only people it hurts are the ones that honestly believed online streaming was anywhere close to being the main choice of video games in the near future.

[DeadlyFire]

Too early for such an idea anyway. Bandwidth is not there yet. Although most countries have vowed to have 100Mbps by 2020-2025 for at least 50% of their population. So things like OnLive will rise again some day.

I still like my discs, but do own many steam titles. Mostly just because they were cheap enough to not care if it was digital.

[hazelamy]

it's bad for those who bought games on the service, it's bad for the staff and it's bad for anybody running or planning a streaming games service.

but for most gamers, and i say most because going on the reported numbers only a very tiny percentage of gamers bought into the service, there will be little consequence.

[brich233]

I never like Onlive because the graphics that are streamed from are really inferior then. I also tried that gaikai, and its just as bad. Cloud gaming is not that good at the moment, maybe in a few years it will be better.

[Flatbattery]

All it has proven is that the conditions aren't yet adequate enough for cloud gaming on a worldwide scale. Call it an experiment and move on, it's not the end for gaming which a lot of journalists will claim, gaming is killing itself well enough on it's own.

I love how every little thing is hurting the industry, yet they leave out that poor journalism has been a major contribution. Maybe one or two of these so-called journalists could grow a pair and write about that.

[Baka-akaB]

Come on people called for ages on the opinion that it was mostly created to be a patent troll and and soon to be auctioned company .

They had no no economic model that made sense and could get them money . They set up shop hoping a big company would purchase them ... wich came to bite them back .

At least they succeeded in the sales of the company , but only the employées are suffering from it .

Onlive didnt make a dent on our gaming habits , let alone its future

[KMCROC54]

I feel for the employees, hope they all find work soon.

But as for the CEO or whatever he is i don't feel bad for, wasn't this the same brick that said onlive will replace consoles guess that's not happening anytime soon or ever for that matter.