OnLive, the cloud-streaming service which delivers high quality 3D games directly to subscribers without the need for downloads or high-end 3D hardware, is coming soon to tablets and iOS/Android. Here's TechCrunch's preview:
As TechCrunch's Matt Burn notes, an OnLive-streamed game occasionally lags, but overall the graphics quality and playability looks quite good. With sales of tablets and smartphones exploding, it's not surprising that OnLive is following this trend. However, it's still an open question whether cloud streaming for 3D games is a viable market. According to an unofficial OnLive blog, orders for the service are starting to skyrocket, but until I see official numbers from the company, I'm somewhat skeptical.
Why am I following OnLive so closely? Here's one reason:
When I first got an OnLive demo in 2009, company founder Steve Perlman told me, "You could design the next Second Life on this!" Which is probably true, not just of OnLive, but the other cloud streaming services that are looking for a market. But as I said a few months ago, cloud deployment is currently too expensive to use for a free-to-play 3D world, and so the service will first need to gain a larger audience, which will in turn drive per-user deployment costs down.
It's definitely all about the per-user deployment costs. I wonder what the economies of scale are actually like here; obviously you can amortize the cost of the building and the person that answers the phone and stuff, but you really do need the equivalent of a high-end graphics card per user. That's still not all that cheap, even when purchased in large quantities, is it?
Posted by: Dale Innis | Monday, December 12, 2011 at 01:30 PM
If OnLive starts getting decent MMO titles, I'll be sold.
Posted by: Adeon Writer | Monday, December 12, 2011 at 04:47 PM