One of the two biggest providers of streaming games has now been bought by one of the biggest game console makers. Sony sent out a press release earlier today that it has acquired Gaikai for $380 million. Rumors of Sony buying a streaming game service started as early as May, but the announcement happened after E3 2012 in June.
Gaikai (the company"s name means "open ocean" in Japanese, by the way) was first formed in 2008 with Dave Perry (founder of the now defunct Shiny Entertainment) as its CEO. The company has been offering ways for game developers and publishers to offer its titles via cloud-based streaming servers. Since its official launch in early 2011, the company has offered free streaming PC game demos from Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and others.
As reported by Joystiq, Sony Computer Entertainment, the division for the Playstation 3 and PS Vita consoles, will be the new home for Gaikai. In their announcement today, Andrew House, the President and Group CEO of SCE, hints a little bit that streaming games could be coming to those consoles. He says:
By combining Gaikai"s resources including its technological strength and engineering talent with SCE"s extensive game platform knowledge and experience, SCE will provide users with unparalleled cloud entertainment experiences.
While Perry is also quoted in the announcement, it is unknown at the moment exactly what his role in Gaikai will be after the Sony acquisition. The other big streaming game company, OnLive, remains independent.
Source: Joystiq