OnLive would "love" to talk with MS and Sony about getting its tech into the next Xbox and PS4

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 8 December, 2011

"It would work quite nicely."

Cloud gaming company OnLive would "love" to talk with Microsoft and Sony about incorporating its tech in the next generation of consoles.

OnLive, which has just rolled out on tablets and mobiles with a new app, would work "nicely" with the next Xbox and PlayStation 4, OnLive UK boss Bruce Grove told Eurogamer.

"If they decide they want to use our technology, that would be a great discussion because we've already got the infrastructure," he said. "We know how to do it. There are a lot of things we could bring to the table and they could bring to the table. It would certainly be a discussion we would love to have. It would be very interesting.

"For us, it broadens our market. Look at in the same way the Xbox is becoming a media hub. It's becoming more than just a game system. It's just announced with the BBC. In the US it's announced with U-verse for AT&T. They're saying, how do we become more than just this? And this [OnLive] is a service that could quite easily work through their service and would work quite nicely, to be honest."

Have Microsoft and Sony been in touch?

"We have conversations with many people," Grove replied.

Both Microsoft and Sony are rumoured to be working on development of their next generation consoles, with announcements reportedly set for next year.

Analysts have suggested both will offer hybrid solutions - a combination of traditional disc-based gaming and OnLive-style cloud gaming. This approach Grove is certain both Microsoft and Sony will employ.

"We've built this technology to fit the growing broadband trend," he said.

"They've also got to satisfy their userbase that isn't necessarily just going to leap on that. They've got a legacy to support as well as dive forward. We had no legacy to support, which means our userbase by nature is only going to be a connected userbase. So we get to move forward. That unshackles us in a way they can't be.

"Hybrid is got to be the way they're thinking about this. But knowing the technology works, seeing it works, they've also got to be thinking, this is going to be the future in some form. Just in the way with Xbox Live and multiplayer, they build them in, but not everyone takes advantage of them. It just becomes another feature that is part of the general gaming quiver."

Grove once had OnLive up and running on PlayStation 3 - before Sony removed Linux support.

"It was really easy for us to get a client installed and running on it," he revealed. "We never released it, but it was kicking around in our building at the time just so we could prove to ourselves we could do this and make this kind of thing happen."

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (68) Latest comment 6 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Ironic_War_Criminal #1 6 months ago

    This would actually be a lot more beneficial for Demos actually. Worth looking into.

  • bad09 #2 6 months ago

    So they've gone from replacing consoles to trying to get on them pretty quickly :)

    I don't think anyone believed their wild claims anyway but still comical.

  • Madder-Max #3 6 months ago

    I would "love" for them not to talk to MS about getting its tech into the next Xbox

  • timberwolf #4 6 months ago

    When Microsoft want them they'll buy them.

  • arcam #5 6 months ago

    I'm not sure why you would want to do this on a console. I've always been a big supporter of OnLive, but for low-powered PCs and set-top boxes. I don't see the point of using it on a machine that is already capable of pushing good graphics.

    You could say demos, because being able to just select a game and run it instantly without any download is pretty cool. But two problems - firstly, the demo wouldn't be an accurate representation of the retail product, which is surely the whole point; and secondly, you're not even saving any bandwidth because it's all used in streaming the game anyway.

    So I ask again, what's the point?

  • braydee89 #6 6 months ago

    I can't imagine it will. Unless they have cloud gaming patented, MS/Sony will create their own services and kill off onLive.

  • Tryum #7 6 months ago

    Why would they want it on next gen consoles ... as it could extend life on current gen !

  • DrStrangelove #8 6 months ago

    "I'd love to work together with you" said the mouse to the cat.

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #9 6 months ago

    Unfortunately they really don't have anything that MS couldn't do without them quite easily.

    MS were pretty much at the forefront of 1080p adaptive streaming over broadband with the Zune movie service.

    They are one of the big three when it comes to cloud computing (with Google and Amazon) with Windows Azure.

    They already have GPU over RDP working (and working well) on their Server based virtualization solution using RemoteFX.

    And they also happen to have one of the largest gaming networks.

    Sony on the other hand could well be interested. (That's not a dig by the way)
    Edited by SpaceMidget75 at 08/12/11 @ 18:26

  • [TR] #10 6 months ago

    When your entire business plan is to get bought by a bigger company, I bet you'd love to talk to MS and Sony about that!
    I'm not saying OnLive isn't a worthwhile type of service, but there's little hope for a company like them if they can't get deals to include console games. So the next best thing is being bought (or lucratively licensed) by a console maker.

  • Po1ymorph #11 6 months ago

    Yeah great idea, why not talk to nVidia as well, have them bundle it with there top end graphics cards.

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #12 6 months ago

    @Po1ymorph Haha. Had to read that twice! +1

  • cheeky-sod #13 6 months ago

    I dont like this idea.

  • SomaticSense #14 6 months ago

    Doesn't Onlive exist for those who don't have the hardware to match the games?

    In that case, why would MS or Sony want it on their next-gen console? What exactly would be the point when for the same money consumers could either have a solid holdable retail copy or d/l straight to their HDD without any worry about lag or connections issues?

    Most pointless and laughable idea I've heard all year.
    Edited by SomaticSense at 08/12/11 @ 12:23

  • Stuz359 #15 6 months ago

    One possible use may be to provide backwards compatibility on the cheap.

  • seeafish #16 6 months ago

    @SpaceMidget75 those points are true, but keep in mind that Microsoft is a massive company, divvied into all kinds sectors and sub-companies. All of them would need to collaborate to get a cohesive system working, which I think is unlikely. Much easier to do what they do best: buy OnLive :)

  • waggy79 #17 6 months ago

    Im a big fan of onlive and can only see it going from strength to strength. I think it needs to be advertised more aggressively though,particularly on tv. No-one i talk to has heard of it.

  • trav #18 6 months ago

    Future of Onlive is via TV services like Sky or Virgin. Intergrated into a set-top box and running through the exisitng TV services gets rid of the bandwidth problem.

    The bandwidth usage is a major concern for me when using this and is currently a deal-breaker. That and the HD stream is still quite highly compressed.

  • Murton #19 6 months ago

    Gotta hand it to them, fantastic strategy and one that is prove to work. If you want to get new tech into the home the best way is to trojan horse it there by putting it something people already want, worked for DVD with the PS2 and again with BluRay in the PS3.

    So it's a natural move for OnLive, not so sure about the platform holders buying into it though. For demos and downloadables it's a fantastic idea, but for full retail releases I can't see the various retail partners of MS and Sony going for it and unless all investors are on board I can't see either company taking the risk.

    I like OnLive in principle, but the real world practicality, it's just too far ahead of what the market is actually looking for. Especially in the UK where broadband services are so variable and ISPs actively throttle real time services such as streaming to hide the inadequacies of their networks when it comes to modern day internet applications.

  • arcam #20 6 months ago

    @SpaceMidget75 Sony on the over hand could well be interested.

    I'm curious as to why you think Sony might be interested. Or even why MS would build their own service. What do you think OnLive could bring to the PS3?

    Stuz359's idea of bringing backwards compatibility on the cheap is the best I've seen so far, but I'd be surprised if that was enough.

  • Jonny5Alive7 #21 6 months ago

    Unless MS actually bought out OnLive as a company this wouldn't happen. Why let your customers try out another competitors system on your own console? Probably more likely MS and Sony will come up with their own version of OnLive.

  • bad09 #22 6 months ago

    @SomaticSense

    Yes and no. It's certainly more a huge benefit to people without hardware muscle, but it's also a good service for people using all kinds of hardware for their gaming and more importatly for rentals.

    Want to continue Batman but somewhere there is only a console? Can't be bothered trekking to a local Blockbusters or waiting for lovefilm to finally send that game? Boom there it is on onlive.

    There is certainly room for it on consoles just like there is room for it on PC. It wouldn't surprise me if the console makers have something like onlive planned already for the next round.

  • arcam #23 6 months ago

    @bad09

    Can't be bothered trekking to a local Blockbusters or waiting for lovefilm to finally send that game? Boom there it is on onlive.

    Why would you not just download it and play it properly? Surely a download rental service would make more sense for the consoles?

  • bad09 #24 6 months ago

    @arcam

    Possibly but for the masses the ability to just play it would be a big plus over waiting for downloading and the slight loss in quality with streaming isn't a big deal to non-geeky types like us I reckon, alot of gamers still don't run their consoles in HD anyway.

  • ant72 #25 6 months ago

    Particularly when it comes to backwards compatibility. The idea of having an entire PS1/2 software collection online it very interesting :)

  • anthonypappa #26 6 months ago

    no publisher wants their game represented in a possible laggy, substandard form... they can't reliably/consistently reproduce ps3 graphics across the board - so reproducing ps4 graphics that run from a hard drive or speedier BR drive isn't going to happen.

  • Lalaland #27 6 months ago

    Hahahahahaha!!!

    Headlines at 6O'Clock
    - Competitor Would 'love' to be on Competing Platform
    - Pope is a Catholic

    As surprising as dawn breaking or the sun setting. Why on Earth would I put a service on my device that would leech from the margins on software?
    I can't even begin to imagine how they're planning on pitching this to Sony and MS.

  • Darren #28 6 months ago

    As others have said, OnLive would be great for trying out demos instantly with no download hassles but I personally would not like to play any of my full games this way as the lag and image quality are unacceptable to me. Impressive tech though but it is let down by the current broadband infrastructure and overcompression of data IMO.

  • Bander #29 6 months ago

    Given Wesley's previous story about there being a version of the next Xbox with no hard drive or optical drive, that would leave a a cloud service like OnLive and ROM cartridges as the only means of actually playing games on the thing...

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #30 6 months ago

    @arcam Hi. When I said that Sony might be interested I actually just meant in the sense that they don't have the technologies available to pull if off whereas MS do. I didn't mean that they would really be interested in the service it provides.

    However, IF MS (and/or Sony) were interested in providing this kind of service I would think it's best use would be for instant demos and more importantly allowing decent gaming on low powered Windows Phone or Windows 8 tablet devices. Being able to play Halo 4 locally on your 360 and then (with cloud saves) continue the game on a Windows 8 tablet might be attractive.

    Personally I've always liked the idea of Background Download Games. You download the 1st level and as you're playing the extra content is being downloaded.

    Or you could combine downloadable games with the streaming service. Buy a game, start playing immediately via the cloud until the game has downloaded to your 360.

    Thinking [Box]

    :)

  • Zomoniac #31 6 months ago

    @arcam secondly, you're not even saving any bandwidth because it's all used in streaming the game anyway.

    But surely you're not streaming the game, you're streaming the video feed one way and input commands the other, far less bandwidth, that's the whole point of the system.

  • Rack #32 6 months ago

    @arcam Time of course. With a lot of demos you save some bandwidth but being able to just play 30 minutes of a game straight off the dashboard is fantastic.

    If they had a structure where the first 30 minutes were free, you got another 5 days for £6 then you could buy the full game for £6 less at which point it would background download whenever you weren't using onlive and you could use your cloud save straight off I'd be all over that.

  • GaryStew1980 #33 6 months ago

    Do they really think MS would be interested in this? I am fairly sure this is something that will be fully implemented in any future Xbox console. As for Sony seeing PSN is such a piece of junk and they cant even manage to let people in different games chat to each other, i think they need all the help they can get.

  • tiddex #34 6 months ago

    yeah, let´s take our service for people without proper hardware and include it in, say - nextgen hardware!

  • superdelphinus #35 6 months ago

    Someone wants to be bought out

  • danhese007 #36 6 months ago

    @SpaceMidget75. Sony doesn't have the technology to pull it off, seriously? Remoteplay is like Onlive and existed since 2004. You could use a PSP to play some games that are on your PS3 from anywhere in the world as well as stream Music, Videos and Pictures and is being developed for Vita also. Location Free TV lets you stream live TV to PSP over the internet and there's Torne etc

    @GaryStew1980. Cross Game Chat is a PS3 limitation and has nothing to do with PSN, PS Vita has Cross Game Chat. As for PSN being junk, that's just a stupid claim with no evidence to back it up, sure it isn't flashy and could use some improvement but that is far from being junk. The only thing you idiots use as a reason for calling PSN junk is lack of Cross Game Chat.
    Edited by danhese007 at 08/12/11 @ 14:01

  • Bleed #37 6 months ago

    nooooo, go away, dont do it !

  • mrrix32 #38 6 months ago

    Wait, OnLive have had a working Linux app for over a year and they aren't releasing it? *Rage*

  • Spazdarn #39 6 months ago

    @bad09 It can be a significant loss in quality depending on where you're getting it.

    The console war is a big "my c%£k is bigger than yours", graphics war a lot of the time, I don't see this really happening.

  • Subdominator #40 6 months ago

    @timberwolf That was true in the past. But recently Microsofts approach to things is to make it better themselfs. Like they did with Kinect. They could have just used the tech of that Israeli company, but instead created their own solution to the problem.

    Also it doesn't make sense for either Sony or Microsoft. Right now they make money with the hardware, with the store and with the standard license fees. OnLive or a similar streaming service means huge server costs and less income due to OnLive walking away with their share. And let's not get started with all the technical problems of streaming games. Hell, 40 % of all Xbox 360 never went online. Probably more, because of people with more than one gamertag. And if they have to sell a powerful console because half their userbase has no other options then it would be stupid to stream games to this system. Streaming games is a nice solution to get games on platforms that are not powerful enough to run them otherwise. Other than that it's just stupid.

  • Spazdarn #41 6 months ago

    @danhese007 It's nowhere near as reliable as Xbox Live in comparison.

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #42 6 months ago

    @danhese007 No need to start getting all defensive for Sony. This has been a fanboy free discussion so far.

    To elaborate on what I meant, the transmission of video and controller inputs from one single system (your PS3) to another single system (your PSP) is just a fraction of what is involved.

    It's the virtualization of GPU resources and making sure those resources are available in a cloud solution that I'm suggesting MS would have an easier time of than Sony at this point in time.

  • ollyn #43 6 months ago

    I thought the whole idea of this was that you would never need to upgrade your rig (and now tablet) for gaming reasons and that it would all be handled server side. Putting it on a state of the art next gen console would seem a little redundant.

    I tried it out and it was damn impressive when you think about what is actually taking place but it wasn't quite there for me. 3-4 Years of tweaking and fine tuning alongside a higher capacity internet infrastructure and it could pose a threat, but right now it is nothing more than a tech demo for me.

  • FortysixterUK #44 6 months ago

    Ahem.
    Fuck.
    Right.
    Off.

    Once games end up being virtual only, with no ownership ( even with STEAM you can burn the game images to DVD ), then I shall finally have an excuse to go all the way back to the c64 in my games catalogue and start playing the games I never completed....add to that all the ones on the Ninty systems, the sega systems, ps1 & 2 , PC etc etc and I would never have to put up with stupid bloody streaming game media ever !

    Worst idea ever ever Microsoft, don't listen to these twats at Onlive, their format will fail and we can forget the dumb ass idea ever existed. yay ! :)

  • Snake_2011 #45 6 months ago

    I own both consoles & hope Onlive is not on them.

  • bad09 #46 6 months ago

    @FortysixterUK

    I think you are one of the many that seems to misunderstand what onlive actually is although to be fair I think some of that is down to their own marketing not really getting the right message across.There is no ownership issue because it is a rental service. It's not something designed to "replace" buying and owning your games collection it's something you rent streamed games from that just happens to offer a long term "lifetime pass" option to but even that is only guaranteed for 3 years.

    Are you against Blockbuster, lovefilm or Metaboli to?

  • danhese007 #47 6 months ago

    @SpaceMidget75 So simply pointing out that Sony has the technology to pull it off now means i'm a fanboy whereas idiots saying PSN sucks, lacks cross game chat and a whole host of BS is not being a fanboy?

    Playstation Home has its game engine essentially in the cloud, several SOE MMO run in the cloud. Talk about fanboy when you are actually in fact so blinded you cant recognize the merits of other companies. Notice how i didn't demerit Microsoft in any of my comments, that's because i recognize what Microsoft is capable of and yet you suggest i'm a fanboy. Lmao

  • cloudskipa #48 6 months ago

    No it would not work "quite nicely" it would be horrible. Go away with your crappy lag infested gaming. I for one don't want it.

  • Neil__ #49 6 months ago

    Ubisoft couldn't even keep the servers needed for their DRM running so what chance have these people got of streaming a video game like Skyrim for example?

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #50 6 months ago

    @danhese007 Calm down.

  • alcides #51 6 months ago

    Hybrid is got to be the way

    what's this degenerate grammar all about?

  • DrStrangelove #52 6 months ago

    I've been thinking. Maybe they're trying to raise fears at MS that they could team up with Sony, so MS might actually join or buy OnLive for much more money than it's worth. Wouldn't be the first time a great company wasted a lot of money just to deny their competitors a possible advantage.

  • arcam #53 6 months ago

    @Neil__ what chance have these people got of streaming a video game like Skyrim for example?

    No need to ask, you can try for yourself and see! http://www.onlive.co.uk/instantdemo

  • Farzlepot #54 6 months ago

    @anthonypappa

    Except for Bethesda, of course!

  • Ryze #55 6 months ago

    @Po1ymorph

    Exactly.

    They're better off doing a deal to put it on the Wii, with its huge installed base, and limited hardware.

  • Turfschipper #56 6 months ago

    ''Nicely'' is not what i want when i buy a 500 euro next gen device.
    Edited by Turfschipper at 08/12/11 @ 17:57

  • DoucheVader #57 6 months ago

    I don't know anyone who owns this service.

  • lockload #58 6 months ago

    @danhese007 Did yu even read his reply, sony dont have the tech to pull it off, streaming the video is the easy bit, virtualisation in a cloud is not

    MS already do this like the point that was already made

  • Bander #59 6 months ago

    Reading the posts here, I now remember that the main point of the PS3's Cell processor, and its name, is that it was designed to work with other systems via the internet to produce better graphics. At least that's how it was presented to technology news publications.

    If several gamers had their PS3s switched on, but some were idle, the idle ones would contribute processing power to the PS3s in use. And that's why the SPUs are designed primarily for fast encoding and decoding of compressed video, from multiple sources at once.

    Alas, I guess the power consumption of PS3s meant that expecting gamers to keep their machines switched on was far too optimistic of Ken Kutaragi and the engineers. And the internet hasn't improved enough for the idea to work well either. But all the talk of the PS3 being future-proofed for 10 years pretty much comes from the original plan for 'Cell'.

  • super_monty #60 6 months ago

    Onlive is shit, except for a quick rental type game for an afternoons fun.

  • psorcerer #61 6 months ago

    @SpaceMidget75 either you don't know what you're talking about, or just use MSFT pitch here.
    Of all the bullshit you've said only RemoteFX is remotely about technology, and it has nothing to do with MSFT. RemoteFX uses hardware technologies of Intel/AMD (CPU and MMU virtualization) and hardware/drivers of Nvidia/AMD GPUs (and only specific ones, at this). There is absolutely no limit on using it on any other OS (not Windows), but there is indeed no way to use it on console hardware (unless the "console" is a PC).

  • zzkj #62 6 months ago

    ISP infrastructure is still woefully inadequate, this is still an impractical solution looking for a problem.

  • JamieR #63 6 months ago

    I dont see this happening sony make alot of money from game sales what cut would they get from onlive.

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #64 6 months ago

    @psorcerer I'm not even sure were to start with what you've typed there, but given it's so hard to work out what you're trying to say, I don't think I'll bother. Sorry.

  • SpaceMonkey77 #65 6 months ago

    Nice tech, but this is something that the likes of Nintendo should be investing in, as their systems never have a bloody hard drive.

    I'd still prefer to download my demos onto my 360 hard drive, and play them on or offline, as I see fit. Streaming is a nice option for music, tv and films but not for games overall, me thinks.

    And the real beauty is that all demos on Live are free.

  • Collymilad #66 6 months ago

    No thanks.

    Onlive is "ok" when all the factors are perfect, but ill stick to local.

  • scuffpuppies #67 6 months ago

    Cloud gaming still has zero interest for me. I like to "collect" my games, whether PS3, 360, or PC, and want to physically feel what my fourty notes have bought me. Plus there's the whole 2nd hand market to consider.

    Great technology, just not for me.

  • lazyboyblue #68 6 months ago

    They got Onlive up and running on ps3 using linux?

    And was this around the time Sony decided to remove Linux support?????!!!!!!!!

    Just speculation; but was this Onlives fault?
    Edited by lazyboyblue at 09/12/11 @ 07:31