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Reborn cloud PC gaming platform OnLive says it doesn’t want to rival streaming service Twitch, Valve’s gaming Steam Machines or even retailers – but instead plans to work with them.
Following the relaunch of cloud PC gaming platform OnLive this week, when asked about the growth of streaming service Twitch, OnLive UK general manager Bruce Grove told PCR: "We have the ability to push streams, so one of the things we want to do is [take that] as another opportunity for us to partner, not work against.
"We have people playing video games and we have live video game streams, so really what we are is the potential to be another channel. It doesn’t make sense for us to go head-to-head with everyone – why would we, when we can become content, part of that ecosystem that exists?
"[A Twitch partnership is] not something that we have at the moment, but it’s the idea that since we have live streams, you’ll be able to do that. Even today, if you look in the OnLive arena, what you’re looking at is a wall of people playing games."
Grove added: "OnLive also doesn’t take away from the Steam Machine – what we’re doing is giving mobility outside of the home. They’ve talked about within-the-home streaming, but what you’re essentially saying then is to buy two gaming machines. What we’re saying is have one game machine and let that be your game machine – we don’t care where it lives – what you do is you own the game, and we’ll let you play the game on your Mac, on your Android TV, on another device in the house – or another device in the coffee shop, or another device on the other side of the world."
When asked whether retailers would be able to get involved with the OnLive platform, in terms of stocking pre-paid retail cards or controllers, Grove replied: "There are lots of discussions going on. In the past we ended up competing with everything, and now if you go to a retailer and buy a game, that retailer can sell you the game and then sell you a subscription to OnLive, for example. There’s incentive now for all sides to make this work.
"[Physical subscription cards] is something we’re looking at for the future. It’s not something we’re ready to announce. While we’ve been quiet for 18 months, we’ve done a lot, and we don’t want to blurt it all out in one go. There’s going to be a strategic roll-out of all things because even CloudLift in itself, once people hear about it, it’s going to take a while to go ‘Wow. What can I do with that, how can I fit it into my life.’"
