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OnLive Ditches Subscriptions, Charges By Game
If your initial hesitation towards trying cloud gaming provider OnLive is because you’re not interested in subscribing to another gaming service, things are changing. The company recently revealed that it's allowing gamers to purchase games separately.
This doesn’t change much as OnLive stands currently, considering early adopters of the tech qualify for the Founders Program, which immunized them to the $4.95 monthly subscription fee for a year. The removal of the monthly fee for everyone is about simplification and freeness, emphasizing the games rather than the service.
"It gives us much more flexibility and it is easier to understand than a two-tiered structure. And, now we know the business model works," Steve Perlman, OnLive CEO told Gamasutra.
So now OnLive users can purchase games like Mafia II and Just Cause 2 from the store and use their MicroConsole to play them from a remotely hosted server.
"We actually got the first indication that the business could be supported without a monthly fee when we let beta testers start purchasing games before we launched the service," he said. "But, because it was beta, we weren't certain what usage patterns would be at scale [after OnLive launched].
“So, to hedge our bet, we established our Founding Member promotion to defer the monthly fee for a year for everyone,” he continued. “Well, after getting to scale, we found that what we had suspected was true: that the business model works without a monthly fee. This allows us to continue without a monthly fee on an ongoing basis."
Now OnLive users have access to a free ongoing trial which they can access without inputting any credit card information.
My remaining question is whether cutting out the middleman console manufacturers is worth it? Years ago when consoles were an arm and a leg ($599, anyone?) this would have been much more appealing. Now gamers can snatch up a console for $200-$300, pop in a game and play, not having to worry about the strength of their internet connection.
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