OnLive: Coming to a Screen Near You

The OnLive Game Service

The OnLive Game Service

After almost 8 years of development, thousands of partner meetings, millions of lines of code, and an uncountable number of all-nighters…

Drum roll please…

On June 17, 2010, during the E3 2010 show, the OnLive Game Service will be available for users in the 48 contiguous United States!

Everyone here at OnLive is just incredibly excited about this milestone. It’s the realization of a dream that we knew would be a huge undertaking, but also one that would change everything.

OnLive fundamentally transforms the way users experience games and interact with each other, and in time, will transform the way games are developed and marketed. By distilling specialized game hardware out of the equation, OnLive will allow games to be played as a pure media experience on virtually any device, with the same flexibility and instant-play experience that we’ve come to expect from online video and music.

For gamers, this means you never have to do anything for your gaming experience to keep getting better. And developers now can unleash unbounded creativity to deliver state-of-the-art gameplay that they know will reach virtually any gamer—instantly.

Today we also announced OnLive’s base service pricing, and a pretty cool special offer.

The base month-to-month service fee is $14.95. Loyalty programs (e.g. multi-month pricing) and other special offers will be announced by the start of E3. We’ve got a great special offer for starters: The first 25,000 qualified people to register on the OnLive Game Service will have their first 3 months’ service fee waived. You’ll find all the important details here, and note that the service fee does not include the purchase or rental of games.

Included in your monthly service fee are OnLive-exclusive features such as instant-play free game demos; multiplayer across PC, Mac and TV platforms; massive spectating; viewing of Brag Clips™ video capture and posting; and cloud-saving of games you’ve purchased—pause, and instantly resume from anywhere, even on a different platform.

Also included in the monthly service fee are features you’d expect from standard online games services such as gamer tags, user profiles, friends, chat, but with a twist: everything is live video. You’ll be friending through multiplay, Spectating, Brag Clips, or by flipping through video profiles of friends of friends of friends. OnLive is delivering the first instant video-based social network. It’s really cool.

Once you are on the service, instant-play, top-tier, newly-released games will be for sale and for rent on an à la carte basis. Specific pricing will be announced as games are released, so you’ll hear about the pricing of the first games by E3, but needless to say, we expect them to be offered at competitive prices. Games are always updated with the latest versions, and purchased game add-ons are playable instantly.

Initially, we’ll be offering the OnLive Game Service for PCs and Macs through a small browser plug-in. Later this year, we’ll announce the public availability of the MicroConsole™ TV adapter. And, we’ll be steadily expanding to other devices over time.

So, there it is. After a long and arduous journey, OnLive will be coming to a screen [really] near you.

—Steve Perlman, OnLive Founder & CEO

87 Responses to “OnLive: Coming to a Screen Near You”

  1. whoa… just whoa… I think im really liking the idea of it all. I’ve been a beta tester some time now and its hard to believe its come this far.

    • Shaurya Maheshwari Says:

      This is amazing;
      The console is being released on my Birthday!

      • Congratulations when this comes out be sure to add me happy birthday in advance homes

    • joshua nina Says:

      OMG this has to be the most powerful gaming device on earth!!! hands to. im the kind of person who loves to get a few mins of gameplay b4 class and to start playing instantly! thats just a Big plus for me. you guys really have done ur homework!!!! : D. unlike some gaming companies who give us the crap at ridiculous prices. thank you guys!! and im looking forward to standing in line june 17. lol

  2. Good job all!!! Look forward to the retail service….renting games and beating them instead of paying the full 60+ will be a welcome change for PC gaming.

  3. My best greetings!! But do you have any plans for Europe, specially Germany? I am very excited about testing OnLive, and so I hope that soon we will able to test it in Germany.

    Grüße from Germany,

    Jan

  4. Timothy Crose Says:

    This is fantastic. I’ve been spreading the word and gauging interest (just to see who else will be joining me once this launches!) and though there has been much skepticism from others, those doubters will be challenged when they see this is not just vaporware.

    I can’t wait to be one of the first!
    Thanks for innovating!!!
    -Tim

  5. w00t!

  6. Max Parks Says:

    Alas, I will be sad to see some things go, such as steam-powered distribution and making massively expensive gaming rigs (yes, I actually enjoyed putting up the dough to make an obscene rig, and then putting it all together), but I guess this *is* the future, so I might as well appreciate it.

  7. viralarchitect Says:

    I hope you can handle the invasion come launch time. I am very excited about renting games, too. I’m hardly ever in the mood to play some games, while I play others all the time. It’ll be nice to play when I feel like it and only pay on that basis. Also, demos will be a welcome change.

    I really hope this becomes the new driving force of the gaming industry. I can’t tell you how awesome it feels knowing that you don’t have to have top of the line hardware anymore. I have a nice rig, but to be able to play games on my laptop or on Ubuntu Linux or Mac OS X is just an unfathomable leap over the obstacles that plagued people’s decisions when buying a computer. You have a computer? You can play games. The micro-console is simply a great idea too.

  8. I’ve been anticipating this for some while now and I cannot explain how ecstatic I am to hear of its release.

    Honestly though I am still hoping to get a chance to try it in action before I buy. (Who knows how campus internet will run the OnLive system). But rest assured if I see it running upto speed I will purchase a years subscription pretty quickly.

    Maybe I can find someone on campus with a beta account.
    -Andrew Murgola

  9. Christopher Says:

    OMG! Its about time…WOOT!

  10. Hmm well The monthly fee isn’t to bad, the real thing that’ll decide if I want to get it or not will be the pricing of the games… the beta is fun though and everything seems to work good, we’ll see how it goes with thousands of people though.

  11. WOW!!!

    I love that thing. I will love it even more when it arrives europe. :-) btw: when will it start in europe?

  12. Dana Roberts Says:

    June 17, 2010 will go down in history when gaming and social networking was changed forever. I can’t wait this is going to be awesome.

  13. Jonathan L Says:

    Good luck, OnLive! This could be truly revolutionary. Pricing at $15/mo (before multi-month discounts) is $180 per year which is way, way less than most hardcore gamers (like myself) spend on their rigs per year.

    Love the Mac/PC compatibility.

    The ability to let average-specced Macs and PC play all the latest games–truly amazing potential.

    I think OnLive’s challenge is to show the value to the skeptics after the service launches.

  14. Please, PLEASE keep those of us in Hawaii in mind! I’m praying you’ll roll out to the Aloha State soon after…

  15. I watching this with great apprehension… I need to see 3.5 more items before my money is put on the table.

    1) a Linux executable… I would gladly pay for this if I could shake the chains of Microsoft (and Apple for that matter) for my gaming needs.

    2) a set of games that are accessible with the basic monthly fee… come on… bejeweled, world of goo, asteroids, something/anything. Some real games, not just demos.

    3) new game price point… Sorry, but I’m not going to pay full price for a game I don’t have a physical copy of. I don’t for Steam, I won’t for you.

    the 1/2 point…. it would be really, really, **really** cool to access MMORPG’s through Onlive. I’ve done work travel before and it would have been awesome to get onto my MMO’s with the mid-range laptop while away from my home system…

  16. Man! This is something that I’ve been dreamin of for ages now!
    What seemed impossible just a couple years ago is now becoming an awesome reality, and it’s all your guys’ fault. (Good thing)

    I’m excited. I’ll spread the word, and get as many people as I can interested in this!

  17. Mannn I can’t wait ! Also been spreading the word.

  18. The reason I know OnLive will change the face of gaming is because of all the doubt and closed-mindedness about the potential of this service. All great innovations in history were met with doubt.

    Keep it up! I can’t wait for the release!

  19. I’m still a sceptic, but hoping it is true. This could be a benefit for those casual gamers who don’t want to invest in expensive hardware. It definitely simplifies the need for any extra clunky devices taking up space in the house. The only drawback is that broadband is not available to everyone yet….satellites are limited use so they don’t count.

  20. Daniel L Says:

    This onlive service sounds very great! I only hope that I see many more titles on the service like Battlefield bad company 2 or others.

  21. This is great finally!! Now when you have the micro console and exclusive games showing the power OnLive has then it will really take off!!

  22. Great news, but not for me individually because I’m sure that my internet connection won’t be fast enough for the service… Which is why I need fibre optic broadband badly… There is only “up to 8Mb” ADSL connection in my area. =(

    Suppose, it will benefit those who has a really fast broadband connection.

  23. Cool! Really looking forward to seeing how this works out for you guys :)

    Any idea of a timescale for an international launch though? There’s 6.5 billion potential gamers outside the US you know ;)

  24. Chuck Parsons Says:

    I can’t wait to give this a try.

  25. This is going to be true revolution and a timely one at that. It makes sense that the next branch on the gaming platform family tree should come from a new company with a new technology.

    When does it port to hand helds!?!?

  26. shumushin Says:

    Congratulations! But will it be available in Europe?

  27. This is great news, it will really open up the gaming world to those of us who have macs. It’s just a shame it is not coming to the UK sooner, but I’m sure it will be worth the waite.

  28. I wonder how fast the service will grow and take off? I mean, the management team might even be able to convince developers to create games we’ve all been screaming for, such as multiplayer (no necessarily MMO) Oblivion and Fallout3. I haven’t tried it yet but the idea that I can bounce between my pc and tv and not lose a step in gameplay is fantastic. This service is what XBL and others should have been all along.
    Cheers,
    Dennis

  29. Hnery Jones Says:

    Why is there a monthly fee if you have to buy the games? And once you buy the game you have to pay the monthly fee to continue to play it?

    $180 a year plus whatever the games cost or you could just buy six games on CD and play them forever for free.

  30. Hey, I’m so excited and Can’t wait, however like anyone else, I have my doubts, questions, hopes, and so I was wondering, what would be the recommended service…I am leaning towards the tv version, but I was wondering if there will be an option to use keyboards etc for RTS and such….If you have info please reply.

    p.s. How will you guys deal with sever overloads and things like that? How many designated servers will there be? please make this reliable, I’m counting on this or a new $200 vid card…

  31. PLEASE COME TO CANADA!!! D:

    I am slightly skeptical about this, mainly because it is so unreal, but somehow I get the feeling they know more about it than me. :P still, gotta see it to believe it xD

  32. This gaming service is truly amazing, and I can’t wait to see how far it has come.
    It will revolutionize the gaming industry, and prevent a ton of pirating for the future.
    Here’s to hoping this delivers!

  33. Adam Walker Says:

    I’m afraid you wont get the amount of people you want to use this service. Most people will be put off by the expected amount of lag the service will hold.. however it will allow people to access a wider variety of games much faster and easier than in real life and also reduces the costs of buying the console AND the game as well…

  34. monkeydhugo Says:

    super siked cannot wait!

  35. I cannot wait for this to come out , does this mean i dont have to go out and go buy a 360 or ps3 i can just play it on my tv??

  36. Wow it’s like the Phantom but this time it might be ligit

  37. I really Like the Idea of this but there is one question I need to be answered.

    Will the “Micro-Console” Support Wi-Fi and connect wirelessly to the internet?

    if it does then I know I will get it when it comes out. I really hope they release the previous “Fallout” games for it.

    Thanks for reading and anyone who knows an answer to the Wi-Fi question please could they reply.

    :-)

  38. I should add that I’m very interested in the technology and hope that OnLive “makes it” in a big way. The time, energy, and financial investment made by its creators and contributors should pay off quite handsomely. Good luck OnLive!

  39. Andrea Dolcini Says:

    I live in Italy but i’d love to use your gaming platform.

    Thik about a linux version.

    THX andrea

  40. Aaron King Says:

    I wish this could be in England aswell but I guess ill just have to wait but this sounds amazing and could really revolutionise the way we play games as we know it

  41. elton padilha Says:

    nice, i just waiting now… go go, nice job… and success…

  42. I seriously can’t wait for June 17 to come. This is going to be great. This will probably make me regret buying a Core i7 liquid cooled pc. But oh well. I might sell the ol’ Xbox 360. The big question is How Do We Invest in Onlive. AT&T maybe? An IPO would be even better. Congrats OnLive!

  43. If it really works as it should, it’ll be awesome!
    I hope the service can come to Brazil soon!
    Can’t wait to see Onlive in action!

  44. I would so love to see this in Europe. I got hooked at the idea of OnLive ever since I heard of it the first time, and really see a lot of potential in it. The ease of use, the portability, and what awesome opportunities it opens up for game designers such as me!

    I mean, no it will probably not “kill piracy”, but sure, if it gives consumers ease of use and a good price tag, it will probably take a bite out of it.

    Yet, that’s not what I’m excited about, but the whole range of options never before dreamed of in multiplayer games! I’m talking about cheating and hacking! Suddently, you need not think of security one bit, or that data can be tampered with, that streams can be decoded and used for aimbots or to see through walls – no such data will ever be exposed to players. We can suddently have pretty advanced physics in play that will look the same for all involved players, and so on and so forth.

    The only thing we have to mind is game exploits, but those are usually easy to fix, and when fixed they would stay fixed.

    I doubt you haven’t already thought about moving to other parts of the world, but just to have said it, I really hope and wish that you will consider making that move as soon as possible. The interest of such a service – if proven successful – would surely be huge. I, for example, see plenty of older generation people getting a cheap MicroConsole to set up just so their kids and grand kids to play with when they’re visiting, which really is ideal due to the fact that they won’t have to worry about keeping up with hardware – they always have the latest stuff right there. And internet connection is more or less as common as running water nowadays; in Sweden anyway.

    Aaah… I’m really excited about this. As a gamer AND a game designer.

  45. Hope they’ll find a very QUICK way to get this across Europe.

  46. Mohammed Rafi Says:

    Hii…………… Im seriously excited to play the games on “ONLIVE” bt, the same time im bit disappoined tat its launching only in America. I wish if it launches Europe as well…..

    Just cant wait to thurst the Game……/// Ha haha…………
    fingers crossed//\\ ;)

  47. INCREDIBLE. I think you should stress a LOT more that this eliminates the need for specific hardware, continual hardware upgrading, that essentially you can play on a much underspecced computer. This needs to be more clear.

  48. INVEST in ONLIVE….How can one invest in Onlive? Public stock option? Hook a brother up please.
    How about a Canadian Onlive service?

  49. Finally a game service that sounds like it will work and work well. No more renting or game fly. Haven’t been this excited since Sega channel. Funny that the Phantom couldn’t pull this off. I will definitely try it for the PC.

  50. Good concept, but how do you intend to overcome the bandwidth limitations? Being on broadband and ‘buffering’ HD video content is bad enough as is, imagine being in that critical battle scene and you buffer/lag out. Cloud computing is great on localized LAN services where the backbone and throughput is on a gigbit network. Globalizing this concept is great but I think we are farrrr behind in the throughput to make this a pleasant experience.

  51. Carl Miller Says:

    Interesting concept.

    I suspect your running some virtual dekstop environment or thin client solution for this?

    Be interested to see how it performs when the servers are max’d out and also how the games play in terms of fps.

    Todays gamers wont accept lag spikes delaying their online gaming experience. Especially when their hooked up in battle with another team.

    Also,you must have some serious bandwidth and hardware in your DC if this goes worldwide.

    Another question, what happens if the servers go down? some sort of vmotion process to another will cause loss of play wont it? or at least heavy lagg?

    i’m really interested in how this is gonna pan out.

    good luck.

  52. Either monthly pay or pay-per-game. One or the other for it to make any economical sense. Otherwise a good idea.

  53. Orionizer Says:

    Ahh yes… the beginning of a new age. The fall of another….

    Just as technology ascended into the absolute dependency of the human race, Virtulization of every thing will one day mean that all the little bits passed between players or spectators will be controlled not by the player or spectator. Controlled by the Cloud. Instant access to everything via a virtual operating “portal”. Such a spectacular event Onlive is.

    This will truly start to solve the piracy issues in the US. My opinion is it will create bigger ones outside of the boarder.

    Just like the light bulb killed the candle, something is destined to die from this advancement of virtualization. Good or bad, it will happen.

    I’m in…

  54. brianthesnail Says:

    great
    however may main concern is bandwidth…. end-users with slow broadband connections will not be able to experience “onlive” the way it was meant to be played
    what will be the minimum connection speed…..?
    if all goes well it will radically transform gaming history …. and there will be a marked fall in sales of consoles ….. so its gonna be great news for onlive and bad news for sony,nintendo and microsoft
    however good luck to onlive and lets hope everything goes well and this time next year i will be sitting in front of my pc playing assassins creed 2 (with a onboard graphics adapter and 512mb of ram) (ha,ha)
    good luck onlive !

  55. To be honest, I find this to be quite innovative. However, I am thinking that the concept comes in a bad time where ISPs limite more and more their transfer bandwith, where gamers expect ultra high quality games with stunning graphics and no lag which leads me to be alot skeptical.

    If the information transfert is done as well as you pretend and the graphical experience and lag free experience is there, it might have a future.

    As for the economical concept, I am more than ever skeptical as to where dematerialisation of the gaming content will lead us to. Steam Powered pushed the limit in some way by having a game only in download. Ubisoft pushed the limit further recently by asking their clients the need of a internet connection at all time to play a game, now you suggest us to play the game not only without having a materialisation of the game you bought but also by needing Internet. You’ll ask us to pay for a Onlive account ($180/y), paying for the game($60/game), paying for the internet($40/month) plus the micro-console which I agree is neglictable in all this(and you can add to this MMORPGs fee if you wish too). Too much nodes in the chain from the distributor to the client, I dont like it and the fact that if Onlive is a flop, I might loose the ability to play the games I bought will surely make me stay away from this.

    As for Onlive economic model, it’s still better for my own economy to own a console (PS3 for Example since you don’t pay for the live), use it 3 or 4 years and buy the games one by one at the game shop. Moreover you can resell your preplayed games after use if you really dont wanna play them anymore.

    Lets compare cost quickly…. PS3: $ 600, Onlive : $180/yx4years=$720…

    Anyway, I’m staying with my PC and ironically Steam which grants me all I need.

  56. SinlessOrc Says:

    NEED UK RELEASE DATE!!!!!

    Running World Of Warcraft on my TV would be amazing

    Get it done OnLive

  57. AAAAAAHHHHHHH I WANT THIS SO BAAAAADDDDD!!!!!! June 17 can’t come soon enough it really isn’t fair when you don’t have any other consoles :(

  58. I honestly can not wait for this June! Everyone I’ve told about this has a lot A LOT of speculations, I do not want to judge it until I’ve tried it! I really do hope it works out and it becomes a success. If it does bye bye expensive consoles! I also hope you can watch movies on here, and play MMORPGs like the new Final Fantasy XIV by Square-enix. OnLive you have a lot of people looking at you right now … dont F this up!

  59. I just started looking into this today and I am extremely thrilled. This is a fantastic innovation at a time when it is desperately needed. Over the past 5 years I have been gaming with a close group of friends and as times got tougher and game technology bloomed, many of my fellow gamers couldn’t keep up with the hardware crunch. This is the answer to it all, if you can pull it off. Noticed the special offer for pre-subbing was for USA only, unfortunately, so will hope to be a test driver for the rest of my UK based crew.

    I read there is competition coming from AMD. I hear they’ve got plenty of competitors themselves. If you know what I’m saying….

    I recently upgraded my computer into a monster that will slowly turn into an old slow cat in about 5 years. 1000 dollars or so that thing cost me. Comparatively, if I spend 1K over the course of 5 years to game, it would be the same thing to me. Keep it up, I look forward to being your customer!!

  60. Wow! OnLive is finally here. I remember hearing about this a year or two back and thinking it sounded like a good idea but I never thought it would be out so soon. I can’t wait!

  61. William Says:

    Wow…this is amazing…a little down about the a la carte basis for the new game releases but still this is amazing. Me and my friends have ben using the Xbox for years, but since the Red Ring of Death, i moved to PS3, and i have tried to get friends to move over with me. but they wont go saying that all their friends are on Xbox Live. When this hits big, and good luck OnLive you guys have a great chance, it will bring all gamers together. You guys will have a big competition from PS3 and Xbox for taking away from their console players. But seeing what yall have so far, this is way worth it.

  62. hello onlive, i have been following ou guys since your article was in a magazine, and i have to say i very impressed with what your doing. I’ve been waiting for the past year and a half for this, and i will be watching the premiere on E3 2010!!!

    good job guys

  63. Pedro Rasera Says:

    As a programmer, I gotta say that it is pretty impressive. Even more so that you had this idea seven years ago! I’m not old enough to state anything, but I believe 7 years ago, cloud computing was in it’s VERY early stages, so this is all amazing.
    From a Information Systems bachelor student point of view, I’d love to know how this was implemented, it looks very interesting. As a gamer, I’m a bit sad because I live in Brazil, therefore I won’t be able to get a hands on OnLive (even if I could, latency would be awful *sigh*).

    Just from the cheer balls to be this daring and creative, I’m hoping you guys succeed. This may even be the change that the gaming industry so desperately needs in order to change it’s paradigm.

    Pete.

  64. Sounds like a great concept! Just would like to know if it will be available to Canadians. I would love to buy the micro-console. I still have one hdmi port left on my TV.

  65. When will this be available in the UK!!!!

  66. Caleb Whitehead Says:

    is this thing gonna be in canada? it sounds awsome

  67. Image quality will be the same as a game of ps3, or xbox 360? I think a bit strange because such equipment has a very good video card with high definition with the HDMI cable. Do not Know, We Have q wait to see if it will work.

  68. Vincent Wang Says:

    I do hope it be a hit. But I have a query. Do the current broadband speed support the exchange of the amount of the data between my laptop to the server without reducing the game experience? And how much data would be consumed if I play through a game like asssiaan’s greed 2 online? you know, my ISP only provide me 40 gagabyte each month.

  69. Jason Lewis Says:

    Hey, On-live. Don’t forget us here in the UK. Big market!!! We want On-live now!!!

  70. This thing is going to be awesome the only thing that im worried about is that it looks like you need to have alot of ram and hd gamming

    this thing will be amazing deff need to upgrade the compter first lol

    • Wow, Matt, it looks like you TOTALLY missed the point of this project. lol The things that some people say seriously scare me at times…

  71. It’s fantastic!! I want it! i live in Italy… can you sell it to me? please!

  72. OO this is the console&pc killer! Lets Get Ready To Be OnnnnnnnnnnnnnLiiiiiiiivvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeee

  73. I forgot! CANADA COME IN CANADA ALSO!!!! CANADA CANADA CANADA OnCanadaLive!

  74. Dave From Canada Says:

    I have high hopes for this service going forward. Imagine game developers actually using the PC as a lead platform again. I can see more “PC Exclusives” as more and more gamers fall back in love with their mouse+keyboards. Graphics in games could also move forward again, instead of being held back by consoles and obsolete computers.

    I myself, will probably still buy the physical hardware… at least for home use. I’m sorry, but 720p just wouldn’t cut it for me.

    There are only two things I worry about. One is developers programming mostly for the specialized hardware. This would leave hardware owners SOL due to graphical glitches. The second is hardware becoming more expensive because less PC owners would upgrade. This might come about with chip designers trying to make up the money they put into R&D.

    Who knows, maybe you guys will figure out how to broadcast signals above 1080p by the time this reaches Canada. In which case, I may hold off upgrading my computer for an extra hardware cycle.

  75. when is this in Denmark ?! :)

  76. well im from brasil me and my friends see that and all likes perfect i dont no what the other guys or girls think about that but me and all the people (where) in brasil like the ideia of no download or other terribles situations just big and nice fun hehe

    really congratulations

    all peolpe in there is just crazy for use that tresure hail to onlive
    hehe

    see all of you in game XD

  77. Bandwidth? FPS? servers? Hope its all been figured out!!

    I am seriously sceptic on the digital playout of all 25k games!

    hmmmm.

    Please prove to this sceptic that it will work!

  78. JuiceDaddy Says:

    I hope it all works out. The industry as a whole would benefit with a little more competition. Especially from an upstart who comes out of left field and steals their steam.

    You should send a mascot to E3 and have him dance like the Six Flags Man in front of the competition.

  79. think how large this will get if it launches in

    -Australia

    -South Korea

    -China

    -All of South America

    AND

    -Europe

    plus Antarctica – shouldnt leave out the sexy eskimos

  80. when do they start offering other services, like AutoCAD. I have 3D Sketchup files that have gotten way too big to run on my computer. it would b gr8 to edit these files using OnLive. They could use this architecture to offer so much more.

  81. COME TO CANADA PLEASE! Let us even have access to the US servers I’m under 400 Miles and less then 30ping!

  82. Rohan Reid Says:

    Linux support is a must.

  83. Alexander T from Germany Says:

    AWESOME. The future is NOW. Bring this to Europe/Germany asap! :) Finally no need for bootcamp anymore and FINALLY no more thinking about hardware and OS issues. Bah, count me in from day one, once this comes out over here!

Leave a Reply