OnLive: "downloaded media past its peak"

By Tom Bramwell Published 19 February, 2010

Perlman says his service is way forward.

OnLive CEO Steve Perlman has told the DICE Summit in Las Vegas that "physical media is in rapid decline" and even "downloaded media is past its peak".

As part of a speech that included a demo of his company's cloud-based gaming service, Perlman argued that people no longer talk about listening to a CD or watching a DVD, because there's no assumption of physical media any more.

He also said pointed to comments made by Apple CFO Peter Openheimer in January that even the mighty iTunes and App Store businesses are merely "a bit over break-even", to support his point about download media.

Perlman believes the answer to this decline is to provide instant gratification, which handily is what OnLive seeks to do by letting people play games over the internet on remote servers that take care of hardware costs, compatibility and so on.

"The lowest-capability server we have right now is many more times the capability of an Xbox 360," Perlman explained while his colleague Mike McGarvey demoed the service, including Burnout Paradise, Unreal Tournament III and Crysis.

OnLive is currently in closed beta. Check out Digital Foundry's recent coverage of how the service appears to work despite significant technical challenges, and look to our trade sister site GamesIndustry.biz for more DICE coverage.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (50) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • BabyJesus #1 2 years ago

    You would say that, wouldn't you.
    Edited by BabyJesus at 19/02/10 @ 08:38

  • karstux #2 2 years ago

    Of course he'll promote his own business. But I think he's wrong, because people really like actually owning stuff. For me, physical media are still the way to go. Ordering a game, then waiting in pleasurable anticipation until the package arrives... then the ritual of unpacking, enjoying the box artwork... finally installing the game, and diving into the gameworld... all of this are, for me, integral parts of the gaming hobby. Take any of it away, and it becomes a lesser experience. Instant gratification sucks.

  • linea #3 2 years ago

    Yeah, I think some gamers might still prefer their games to be free of video compression artefacts and not at the mercy of network dropouts.

    Call me crazy

  • MyPointIs #4 2 years ago

    "The lowest-capability server we have right now is many more times the capability of an Xbox 360"

    That might be because, they have to be. You know, to open more than one session. Or are you going to have one server per consumer?

  • actionfitz #5 2 years ago

    "OnLive CEO Steve Perlman has told the DICE Summit in Las Vegas that "physical media is in rapid decline" and even "downloaded media is past its peak".

    - or at least it will be in some distant future where places like the UK aren't paying around £30 p/m for less than 2mb broadband.
    :(

  • JohnnyWashnGo #6 2 years ago

    "physical media is in rapid decline"
    Oh yeah... prove it.

    "downloaded media is past its peak"
    Jeez, I never even started to use it and its already on its way out? Methinks this is the sound of someone trying too hard to peddle something not many people want ;)

  • X3Entente #7 2 years ago

    to me, onlive is just a high tech solution to a problem that doesnt even exist.If consumer harddrives were reaching a saturation point so the average consumer was struggling to store games locally then i could understand the need. But you can buy a terabyte harddrive for like £50 these days, and consumer mememory has consistenly stayed ahead of increases in game size which is around 20gb on average these days. Hypothetically (use your imagination here) in an alternate reality say that until now home pc's have been unable to run games locally because consumers hardware isnt powerful enough, but internet speeds were fast enough so that cloud computing was the norm, and then someone invented cheap affordable graphics card/processors and RAM that could be manufactured in mass so that consumers could run there games locally, without having to be hooked to the internet.....now that truely would be a HUGE breakthrough, as it would enable mods, and increase the rights and freedom of gamers to be self sufficent. well that the postion we are already in. Onlive is just a high tech step back ward if you ask me

  • JahB #8 2 years ago

    "The lowest-capability server we have right now is many more times the capability of an Xbox 360,"

    that's great, but how does that help with the input lag?

  • BabyJesus #9 2 years ago

    Appropriate me thinks

  • Br0ken_Engli5h #10 2 years ago

    "The lowest-capability server we have right now is many more times the capability of an Xbox 360"

    Capability for compression artefacts and input lag perhaps?
    There are deals at the moment where you can pick up a 360 arcade for under a 100 quid if you want visuals that aren't up to the best that the PC can offer. You can rent games to keep costs down and you're not at the mercy of the internet gods as to how well your games run.

    EDIT: I should type quicker. :D
    Edited by Br0ken_Engli5h at 19/02/10 @ 09:09

  • Barenbik #11 2 years ago

    It sounds like an interesting idea but not one I'd sign up for. Not being able to play your games because the servers or your Internet connection is down doesn't really appeal. I also prefer owning the physical media so that in 10 or 15 years time I can pull the ps3 out of the attic and play. Using a service like this means that's no longer possible.

  • Emmit_Assassin #12 2 years ago

    Funny that everything else is in decline, except his revolutionary new 'way forward'. What a coincidence. If it wasn't for OnLive, we'd all be fucked, wouldn't we?

    Wouldn't we?

  • Br0ken_Engli5h #13 2 years ago

    "downloaded media is past its peak"

    Yeah, Steve, well your mother is past her peak and your company smells. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

  • M_of_the_sys #14 2 years ago

    "people no longer talk about listening to a CD or watching a DVD"

    He's right. I usually talk about watching a Blu Ray.

  • X3Entente #15 2 years ago

    http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle...

  • Byzanite #16 2 years ago

    @actionfitz

    Ouch? Do you live in the Outer Hebrides? :p

  • s3y3 #17 2 years ago

    Shock, horror, CEO says this way of doing business is dead. The future so happens to be the product I'm selling. Pull the other one mate it has bells on it.

  • Br0ken_Engli5h #18 2 years ago

    @Byzanite.

    What people pay for and what they actually get at peak times can be vastly different, though. I had numerous problems with it around the time Virgin bought out Telewest, as did many in my county. Thankfully it's resolved now, but I know of plenty of people on BT lines with similar problems at this very moment.

  • miiiguel #19 2 years ago

    "The lowest-capability server we have right now is many more times the capability of an Xbox 360,"

    That was a silly punchline Mr. Perlman, because your lowest capability server is a server, to errr... serve, and it's yours. While the 360 is all for meself.

  • hiddenranbir #20 2 years ago

    Past its peak? It's continuing to grow...I'd say it hasn't peaked yet. Especially with the growth that Apps have done. Not even physical media is declining as much as he suggests.

    Onlive: Give people a solution to a problem they never had...

    Guess he picked that up from working at Apple, eh? eh? eh?
    Edited by hiddenranbir at 19/02/10 @ 09:50

  • Mono_X #21 2 years ago

    Schoolboy error!
    Just because he and his band of chums who all live in geeksville think something is cool, it doesn't mean that anyone in the normal world thinks so.

    Physical media isn't going anywhere any time soon.

  • Murton #22 2 years ago

    aphex and english are right about BT you'll be paying 15-25 quid a month for what you're being told is "up to 20mbps" but from the hours of about 10am to midnight you'll average at around 2-4mbps, occasionally even lower than that. Virgin is a little better but still fail to meet advertised speeds during so-called peak times for the vast majority of customers.

    Also consider the fact that all of the UK ISPs throttle the hell out of services like iPlayer, Youtube and Spotify claiming that these "high bandwidth requirement" services have a negative impact on their network performance and therefore the level of service for all customers. If stuff like Youtube and Spotify are taxing our crippled networks imagine what something like OnLIVE would do.

  • metalangel #23 2 years ago

    Consider the current outcry against Ass Crud 2 on the PC - if your internet connection drops, even for a second, the game dumps you to the main menu (despite the game being installed on your hard drive). An entire format which is even more vulnerable to this kind of disruption is just stupidity incarnate.

  • StooMonster #24 2 years ago

    I wonder what OnLive's burn rate (i.e. negative cash flow) is compared to (investor supplied) cash in bank?

    Is their "investors" (see previous posts for analysis of the rag-tag bunch) patience "past its peak" is a more pertinent and realistic question?

  • Darren #25 2 years ago

    "Perlman argued that people no longer talk about listening to a CD or watching a DVD, because there's no assumption of physical media any more."

    Perhaps not so much CDs these days (although I still buy them) but everyone I know still talks about 'watching DVDs and they're still heavily advertised on TV along with BDs (which I tend to buy over DVDs now), so I don't know what planet he's talking about. ;)

  • Fab4 #26 2 years ago

    "That was a silly punchline Mr. Perlman, because your lowest capability server is a server, to errr... serve, and it's yours. While the 360 is all for meself."

    Er, play the majority of MP games on XBL and you run the risk of being made host. Then, i'm afraid, your 360 will be acting as a game server.

  • Darren #27 2 years ago

    I sometimes think these people like to keep uttering the phrase "physical media is in decline" more to convince themselves that it's true than anyone else. After all if you say something often enough then people start to believe you regardless of whether it is actually true or not. CD sales have dropped, yes, in favour of MP3s and, yes, DVD sales have also dropped slightly but that is countered by the increasing number of BD sales.

    If people didn't want physical media at all then retailers would stop selling CDs and DVDs and BDs would have slowly faded into significance. That has not happened, maybe never will, as people still like to own things and they still like to give these things as gifts for birthdays and Christmas. I'm not sure giving someone a voucher that entitles them to download a movie or game for three months only is quite the same thing... maybe I'm just old-fashioned and materialistic though? ;)

  • Dylbot #28 2 years ago

    If OnLive want to come to my city and upgrade the whole telecom network to such a state that it could handle tens of thousands of users hammering this service at peak times, then sure, their service is the way forward. Otherwise here we have a case of a man seeing how long he can get away with spending investor money on coke and hookers, and still pretending that he's going to offer a legitimate service at the end of the day.

    In comparison, I often struggle to stream from iPlayer at peak times, on what is purportedly an 8mbps connection with the highest line priority. But fast-paced gaming, compressed, encoded and streamed in real time, with an acceptable input lag at 60fps will SURELY work!
    Edited by Dylbot at 19/02/10 @ 11:42

  • Corben_Dallas #29 2 years ago

    what a gobshite, With still lag issues with lastest games (MW2) this fool still thinks theres have enough bandwidth to play online with no hardware, lag free, dream on sunshine.

    Edited by Corben_Dallas at 19/02/10 @ 12:04

  • Sevens #30 2 years ago

    "OnLive CEO Steve Perlman has told the DICE Summit in Las Vegas that "physical media is in rapid decline" and even "downloaded media is past its peak".

    As part of a speech that included a demo of his company's cloud-based gaming service, Perlman argued that people no longer talk about listening to a CD or watching a DVD, because there's no assumption of physical media any more."

    Yeah, right.

  • Redeye #31 2 years ago

    So, no-one wants to watch DVDs or listen to CDs anymore? Pillock.

  • metalangel #32 2 years ago

    @beemoh: Blockbuster, Lovefilm for those people who just want to play through the game once and move on? Of course, DLC is trying to put paid to that...

  • BobsUncle #33 2 years ago

    I really don't understand how this guy secured funding.

  • ignatiusjreilly #34 2 years ago

    I understand people not agreeing that "downloaded media is past its peak" (as it's blatantly untrue), but seriously, if you can't see that physical media is in decline you are pretty short-sighted. He is certainly not the only person suggesting it.

    Atari president confident about physical media's decline
    Forrester’s projects a steady decline in physical media sales
    Poll finds that physical media is dying

  • jefranklin18 #35 2 years ago

    This cloud computing bollocks has been around in various different forms since the late 1990s. Some may recall the Network Computer or something similar that was proposed by Sun back in the 1990s. They were going to revolutionise the business world by making management easier with all applications centrally stored. Naturally, they never took off.

    I guess these things coming 15 year cycles or so.

  • theguyfromspark #36 2 years ago

    I heard the DRM for games on OnLive is very restrictive. Apparently you have to be ONLINE AT ALL TIMES to play any game.

  • Mildew #37 2 years ago

    ^^^ would imagine you would have problems playing games over OnLive if you weren't online ;) ^^^

  • JensonJet #38 2 years ago

    I think people are missing the point of why this guy makes these claims and predictions. It's not aimed at gamers, or anyone with an ounce of understanding the market and technology... he's saying this for the benefit of investors, accountants and banks, etc. I'm sure the ultimate plan for the future is to sell the business/technology to a large corporation. I'm sure all involved are hoping this is a goldmine rather than caring about it as a future technology.

  • theguyfromspark #39 2 years ago

    @Mildew It was a joke

  • icematt12 #40 2 years ago

    My max line is only about 3 or 4 MB, and I am near the centre of the second biggest town in England. Our broadband sucks compared to other countries. I'm all for OnLive, but the people don't seem ready for it yet.

  • Skurmedel #41 2 years ago

    icematt12: I don't quite see how OnLive would help you? OnLive would require good broadband, and if your broadband sucks it can't be a optimal solution? Is it the hardware cost you want to escape?
    Edited by Skurmedel at 19/02/10 @ 17:57

  • AOFanboi #42 2 years ago

    Physical media is reported to be dying because the publishers detest the second-hand market. Digital downloads, especially online-activated, avoid that issue that the book etc. businesses have lived with for a century or two.

    OnLive just means you shift a codependency for the industry from the retail chain to the ISPs.

  • eisenhorn666 #43 2 years ago

    I think someone swapped his guys weed with oregano :)

  • jellyhead #44 2 years ago

    Woo Mama! :)

  • Sunyavadin #45 2 years ago

    "downloaded media is past its peak"

    In other news, 3D TV is "Old news", Quantum computers are "yesterday's tech" and "Scientists give up on HIV vaccine because it's been done to death"....

  • X3Entente #46 2 years ago

    just because technology has advanced doesnt mean that previous forms of media are going to become obsolete, we still use books dont we?

  • TitusCrow #47 2 years ago

    Im skeptikal very skeptikal on this one! I dont think our BB infrastructure is anywhere near it needs to be for this to be viable. It will get viable when they can stream perfect 720p with no lag or artificing this is not now. I would also say that DL services are really taking off now rather than blowing out. I get a ton of my stuff from valve, as well as a bunch of impulse sale purchases.

    Talking of physical media, the only time I obsess over this is with books. I want not onlythe book but an excellent hardback version in perfect condition too. all other media ..meh.

  • Sevens #48 2 years ago

    I don't see how OnLive is a great thing for consumers. Content will be entirely controlled by Publishers - those running the "service" - and people won't really own what they buy anymore. Publisher will determine if, when and for how long people can play their games. Will it be cheaper? Yeah, hardly - they'll still demand the highest price they can "get away with". 2nd hand markets, if at all, won't exist to the same extent as before. Not to mention privacy and access to (previously) private user data.

    With such a bulk of disadvantages, what are the advantages? People might have a certain number of games available for "purchase" for a longer time. This is pretty much irrelevant to well informed gamers. The major advantage is that people don't have to order games online (e.g. amazon) or go to an actual store. That's really important because these are horrible efforts no person should have to go through, of course.

    Seriously, I don't understand the (moronic) obsession with digital content/distribution when coupled with a disregard for physical retail products.

  • makeamazing #49 2 years ago

    I can understand some idea that PC CD/DVD media is getting less and less, with shops concentrating on other gaming platforms, there isnt a wide range in retail as there used to be. So i am more inclined to buy from Steam and direct2Drive, but this is because they are services i know and trust. Also i can play offline.

    Could i see the day where i play a single player game over the internet, at the moment, hell no. If my internet goes down or is slow, or their servers go down i cannot play games. I have very limited time to do things these days, and so when i want to play a agame i play it, i dont want to have to wait for their servers to come back online etc.

    If playing MMOs has taught me anything as well, this service will probably be USA centric and they would end up doing maintenance at peak UK times... No thanks, I will stick with media/download games thanks.

  • Shikasama #50 2 years ago

    I hope all of these 'why would I want to be at the mercy of my internet connection' commenters won't be buying any Ubisoft games.