OnLive Cloud Gaming Service Acquired By Sony and Shut Down

OnLive, one of the pioneers in the still nascent cloud gaming space has sold its patents to Sony for an undisclosed sum and will shutting down operations at the end of the month.

"After five years of uninterrupted service, the OnLive Game Service will be coming to an end. Sony is acquiring important parts of OnLive, and their plans don't include a continuation of the game service in its current form. Your service should continue uninterrupted until April 30, 2015. No further subscription fees will be charged, and you can continue to play all of your games until that date," a post on the OnLive website reads.

Sony acquired OnLive competitor, Gakai, in 2012. Its acquisition of OnLive, immediate winding down and the wording of OnLive's statement that states Sony does not plan to continue the service in its "current form" is perhaps an indication that it plans to use some of the tech behind OnLive to power its PlayStation Now game streaming service that was launched in January.

OnLive was once seen as one of the most promising companies in the gaming space. In 2012, the company claimed to have 1.75 million users. The service offered games you could play on its own console (pictured above), tablets, PCs, smartphones, and TVs and cost $9.99 monthly.

Its founder was Steve Perlman, an ex-Apple and Microsoft employee who developed video technology that found its way into iPhones, PCs, and Macs. Shortly after launch, it filed for bankruptcy and was sold to one of its investors and Perlman left the company.