A deal between Sony and Gaikai doesn't exist, says David Perry

A deal between cloud gaming company Gaikai and Sony Computer Entertainment does not exist, Gaikai boss David Perry told Eurogamer at E3 today.

It was rumoured Sony would announce a partnership with Gaikai at E3. This would enable PlayStation 3 and maybe PlayStation Vita to stream-play PS2 and PS1 games, it was believed.

But no such announcement ever happened - although Sony separately announced PS1 Classics for Vita.

"I wasn't even at the Sony press conference," Perry told Eurogamer. "I was sitting in my hotel room, and I know everyone was like, 'Oh my god, are they going to announce cloud gaming?' And I was like, 'No, they're not going to announce cloud gaming.' I wasn't even there!"

Perry believes that "a bunch of random events" combined to make people jump to conclusions. The big announcement Gaikai did make was a a Samsung deal to integrate Gaikai in new top-range Samsung TVs. "Effectively a new first party is showing up," Perry declared.

"I honestly can't think of a future for the console companies that don't include cloud gaming at some point."

David Perry, Gaikai

But E3 aside, does a deal between Gaikai and Sony exist?

"No, no," Perry answered.

"To give you my real take on it, I honestly can't think of a future for the console companies that don't include cloud gaming at some point. They can hold out as long as they want to, but at some point, you don't want to be the console that can't do this. To some extent, I expect all three of them will have this."

Perry said he's been talking to the platform holders "from the very beginning" about Gaikai.

"I've been meeting with them constantly, evangelising how far we've come - 'you really should take this seriously'," he said. "Let's just say they're listening, and always have been. You see them when you go to conferences, we see them listening very intently - 'how's this going, where's this going?'"

"I want to be very clear," he added. "I don't think physical media is going to go away really quickly."

But he said that once people commit mentally to the idea of cloud gaming, in the same way they did MP3s and the same way they did digital photos, "then boom - you're in".

Game-streaming is tipped to be a key feature of next-generation games consoles. Will Gaikai be on those machines?

"If I get my way, yes," said Perry.

"We're trying to be Switzerland in all of this, so we're not competing with anyone. Samsung and LG are using our service, too. We're just like, to some extent, the arms dealer. But we have to stay Switzerland - we can't end up competing with anyone. I would like to see all of them use Gaikai, that's my fantasy, right? It would be cool."

Sign-ups for the Gaikai Samsung beta will begin next month in the US. Those accepted will get a Logitech controller in the post to play the Gaikai games with. Any USB controller will work, though.

When Gaikai-featured Samsung TVs will arrive in Europe is TBA, we were told by Samsung at E3 today. But the plan is to roll them out "well beyond the US".