OnLive game streaming service shutting down as Sony buys patents and other assets

It is easy to forget that the big names in game are all competing against one another and that the competition can be cutthroat at times. In a surprise announcement today, Sony has acquired the "important parts of OnLive,"  meaning Sony bought the patents for the streaming service. This buy-out will lead to OnLive shutting its servers down on April 30th.

Six years ago OnLive was one of the first companies to make a business out of streaming gameplay. Their cloud gaming service allowed subscribers to rent/demo PC games without having to download them to their device. The service sufficiently allowed users to run games on their PC (and mobile devices) that normally wouldn't be able to play those games.

Sony's acquiring of the patents is an interesting move. It clears out their competitors for Gaikai (Sony's company that provides the technology for streaming), but also gives them a leg up on their own streaming service , PlayStation Now.

If you are an OnLive subscriber your PlayPass games will no longer be available through OnLive after April 30th. Any games that run through Steam that were purchased through OnLive will be housed in your Steam library. Unless you used CloudLift on Steam games, all of your save data and achievements will be deleted the day servers shut down. If you purchased OnLive specific items like the Game System or Controllers before February 1st 2015, you won't be able to get any refunds.

If you bought one of those products after Feb. 1st 2015 send an email to support@onlive.com with the subject line Hardware Refund and you might qualify for a refund, but know this: they have said they will have "extremely limited" customer service. There's a chance they might not get to your email so you might want to send them one immediately.

[OnLive]