On Friday, the Internet tech word was all abuzz about what was happening at OnLive, the streaming PC game service that launched with a lot of hype in June 2010. While the first reports claimed that the entire company was shutting down, the final word was that the OnLive service would continue, but the majority of its employees, which until Friday numbered in between 180 to 200 people, would be laid off. The company itself would technically cease to exist as its assets would be acquired by a still unknown entity.
Joystiq has a report, via unnamed sources, which revealed some very troubling user numbers for the OnLive service. The report claims that OnLive had an average of just 1,800 concurrent users. By contrast, the PC game download service Steam shows that it has between 2.4 million and 4 million concurrent users.
The report also claims that OnLive received a number of buyout offers, including one from HP. However, the offers did not reach the $1 billion level that the company was looking for. In the end, one unnamed individual bought out the company, but at the moment there"s no word on who this person might be or how much he or she acquired OnLive for, although its likely to be at a fire sale-style price.
Finally, it sounds like OnLive might decide to file a patent lawsuit against another streaming PC game company, Gaikai, which was recently acquired by Sony for $380 million.
Source: Joystiq