UPDATE - OnLive confirms sale to 'newly-formed company'

[Bligmerk]

If Sony thinks that an online service with only their IP's, then it will fail. Granted, it's an awesome way to supplement this type of service but ANY online service will need the likes of EA, Ubi, Activision, etc.

No, there isn't any way Sony would only have Sony IP's on Gaikai. It is that Sony has so many of their IP that it greatly increases the library available -- at cost to them, not an outside party.

The OP has been updated by the buyout of Onlive. The glaring fact in that update is Onlive *operating cost* was over $5 million per month. Onlive has some key technology software but it's mostly dependent on fat pipes, supercomputer and server farms, and essentially games leased from the developer/publisher. They have nothing of their own to deliver. It's odd to say over 50% of the staff can be laid off and there will be no change in service. So, in addition to a highly leveraged business model with future game "cloud rentals", they also had a hugely bloated staff?

[Sub-stance1]

I don't think you're understanding so let me be as concise as I can.

-Onlive, the company, was in no financial position to support itself for a long period of time.
-The concept is a great idea for the future but keeping itself afloat until it's widely accepted costs money(Which won't be for years).
-Onlive could not survive so it was bought by a company with substantial funding.

That's the point myself, AaronSOLDIER and Rapture are making, they were too ahead of themselves with this idea. Guess why Gaikai was recently seeking buyers until Sony snatched it?. They simply can't afford to keep their company running.

My point was that it is possible for layoffs, closure and bankruptcy to happen all at once and that it wasn't all that strange.

You still don't get it. This is probably what was planned all along. Its possible that they were created to get snatched up by someone. They own a lot of patents and there was no way around them. Either way they would of made out like fat cats. This is almost the same situation that happen with MS buying skype. People were laid off the same way only to learn that they were bought by MS.

This wasn't ONlive being to ambitious. This is most likely what the CEO had in mind from day 1. It was actually kind of clever but bad for some employees.

No, there isn't any way Sony would only have Sony IP's on Gaikai. It is that Sony has so many of their IP that it greatly increases the library available -- at cost to them, not an outside party.

The OP has been updated by the buyout of Onlive. The glaring fact in that update is Onlive *operating cost* was over $5 million per month. Onlive has some key technology software but it's mostly dependent on fat pipes, supercomputer and server farms, and essentially games leased from the developer/publisher. They have nothing of their own to deliver. It's odd to say over 50% of the staff can be laid off and there will be no change in service. So, in addition to a highly leveraged business model with future game "cloud rentals", they also had a hugely bloated staff?

ONlive had the most important thing which is the patents. The question is who owns them now?

[Fon]

You still don't get it. This is probably what was planned all along. Its possible that they were created to get snatched up by someone. They own a lot of patents and there was no way around them. Either way they would of made out like fat cats. This is almost the same situation that happen with MS buying skype. People were laid off the same way only to learn that they were bought by MS.

This wasn't ONlive being to ambitious. This is most likely what the CEO had in mind from day 1. It was actually kind of clever but bad for some employees.





ONlive had the most important thing which is the patents. The question is who owns them now?

Not sure if that was their intention or not.

[Sub-stance1]

Not sure if that was their intention or not.

Not saying that's what happened for sure but it's been done before. Its a shady move because some people get screwed over. Watch and see all the backlash Perlman gets over this. He did the same thing with WebTV. He created it and a couple of years later, sold it to MS. He owns all the patents to this stuff and I think he knew exactly what he was doing.

[Fon]

Not saying that's what happened for sure but it's been done before. Its a shady move because some people get screwed over. Watch and see all the backlash Perlman gets over this. He did the same thing with WebTV. He created it and a couple of years later, sold it to MS. He owns all the patents to this stuff and I think he knew exactly what he was doing.

http://venturebeat.com/2012/08/17/co...other-company/

“We can now confirm that the assets of OnLive, Inc. have been acquired into a newly formed company and is backed by substantial funding, and which will continue to operate the OnLive Game and Desktop services, as well as support all of OnLive’s apps and devices, as well as game, productivity and enterprise partnerships,” the company said in a statement. “The new company is hiring a large percentage of OnLive, Inc.’s staff across all departments and plans to continue to hire substantially more people, including additional OnLive employees. All previously announced products and services, including those in the works, will continue and there is no expected interruption of any OnLive services. We apologize that we were unable to comment on this transaction until it completed and were limited to reporting on news related to OnLive’s businesses. Now that the transaction is complete, we are able to make this statement.”

Read more at http://venturebeat.com/2012/08/17/co...oT75BZaYBOE.99

Not sure how many were affected but they're planning on hiring a large percentage of the Onlive staff(Along with the intentions of hiring more people).

What I'm wondering is who bought it and for how much.

[Sub-stance1]

http://venturebeat.com/2012/08/17/co...other-company/



Not sure how many were affected but they're planning on hiring a large percentage of the Onlive staff(Along with the intentions of hiring more people).

What I'm wondering is who bought it and for how much.
[/COLOR][/LEFT]

I'm sure that firing some staff was part of the deal. I'm guessing the buyer could be MS, Apple, Valve, Google, EA, or maybe gamestop.

[Fon]

I'm sure that firing some staff was part of the deal. I'm guessing the buyer could be MS, Apple, Google, EA, or maybe gamestop.

I'm very eager to find out who bought them and how they'll use Onlive services.

[Sub-stance1]

I'm very eager to find out who bought them and how they'll use Onlive services.

It would be crazy if it was Sony. We should know by Monday.

[Ghost-Rhayne]

It would be crazy if it was Sony. We should know by Monday.

They said anewly formed company. It's strange that some newcomer snatches Onlive.

[*goo]

Doesn't mean the new company isn't also owned by a large corporation of some sort.

[DeviousOne]

Wouldn't be shocked if it was a private financial firm trying to get into the gaming industry.

If the CEO created the company to sell it down the road that wouldn't be anything new used to happen in our industry back in its infancy

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

[Sub-stance1]

Wouldn't be shocked if it was a private financial firm trying to get into the gaming industry.

If the CEO created the company to sell it down the road that wouldn't be anything new used to happen in our industry back in its infancy

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

Either that or some rich person decided to buy them. Its hard to say who it is. Maybe Gabe Newell bought them out. He is rich enough to do it.

[DeviousOne]

Ok ill save u guys the suspense....I bought them out! Lmao I wish...

We'll find out sometime next week for sure!

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[F34R]

ewww.... the wind says that the entire staff is being let go.

"A new company will be formed and the management of the company will be in contact with you about the current initiatives in place, including the titles that will remain on the service," says a laid off employee.

[DeviousOne]

Corporate megers are fun! I just went thru one lol

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[Sub-stance1]

Just found out they were bought by Lauder Partners....

New OnLive owner is Lauder Partners

Existing OnLive investor Lauder Partners has been revealed as the new owner of the cloud gaming company.
The value of the deal is unknown. Although the staff of and investors in OnLive are left with little doubt as to the value of their assets – absolutely nothing. Lauder Partners is owned by Silicon Valley venture capitalist Gary Lauder and has to date invested in over 75 companies.
“OnLive Inc’s board of directors, faced with difficult financial decisions for OnLive, determined that the best course of action was a restructuring under an ‘Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors’,” the official statement reads.
“The assignee of the company’s assets then sold all of OnLive’s assets (including its technology, intellectual property, etc.) to the new company. Unfortunately neither OnLive shares nor OnLive staff could transfer under this type of transaction, but almost half of OnLive’s staff were given employment offers by the new company at their current salaries immediately upon the transfer, and the non-hired staff will be given offers to do consulting in return for options in the new company.
“Upon closing additional funding, the company plans to hire more staff, both former OnLive employees as well as new employees.
“The asset acquisition, although a heartbreaking transition for everyone involved with OnLive, allows the company’s core innovation and ongoing offerings – the product of over a decade of hard work transforming the OnLive vision into reality – to survive and continue to evolve.”
All Things D reports that the investment ploughed into the first iteration of the company was worth around $56m – all of which has been written off as part of the takeover deal.
But the most startling thing here is the company’s audacity. Don’t be fooled – the “heartbreaking transition” that left former employee’s stock options in tatters was deliberately manufactured.
Then there’s the term “non-hired staff”. That’ll be those who have lost their jobs. Fired. Dropped. Sacked. Dumped. Any of these terms would be more appropriate.
But what about OnLive’s customers? That are being told that nothing will change and that all services will continue uninterrupted. But with Steve Perlman’s initial attempt to acquire funding for the company’s astronomically high running costs, there’s no immediate reason to suspect that the new owners won’t face similar battle.http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/laude...on-hir/0101514