OnLive closes down and sells assets to Sony

OnLive will shut its services this month, and has sold some of its assets to PlayStation.

Sony has acquired OnLive’s patent portfolio which covers ‘substantial innovations in cloud gaming’.

OnLive’s services will continue to operate until April 30th this year, and that includes OnLive’s Game Service, OnLive Desktop and Second Life. However, no further subscription renewals will be charged from today, and anyone whose subscriptions renewed after March 28th, will have their money refunded.

This isn’t the first time OnLive has had to close. The firm entered administration in 2012 but was bought back for $4.8m by newly formed business, OL2.

OnLive’s assets will join PlayStation’s already large cloud gaming business. The company acquired Gaikai in 2012 for $380m, and has since launched Cloud Gaming service PlayStation Now, which goes into Beta in Europe this year.

These strategic purchases open up great opportunities for our gamers, and gives Sony a formidable patent portfolio in cloud gaming. It is yet another proof point that demonstrates our commitment to changing the way gamers experience the world of PlayStation,” said Sony Compute Entertainment’s VP of global business development Philip Rosenberg.

The cost of the acquisition was not disclosed.