Sony to acquire cloud gaming service Gaikai for $380M

I'm not into cloud gaming at this point. Maybe after Verizons FIOS makes it into my area I'll take another look. I think David Perry made out on this deal more then Sony. If Sony thinks they are going to be able to rent games at $40+ a game through this service, they are crazy. The problem with cloud gaming is you don't actually own any of the games even though you pay full price for them. It's similar to Sony's PS+ service where you can keep playing the games as long as the service exists or is actually up and running. If GAIKAI service crashes, what are you left with?

Hmmm well, as long as it stays optional and they don't get the idea of forcing down cloud gaming to anyone in next gen it's fine with me

I think this is a great move to complement traditional local gaming mechanisms. As a heavy user of OnLive, I can say without reservation that the technology is ready for prime time.  And if Sony can apply it to console gaming, so much the better.

Imagine being able to demo the first level of a game with no download time.  Imagine that you can "rent" a game for a week or so, enough time for many gamers to complete a game--rather than try to trade your new $60 game for $30 of store credit. Imagine a PlayStation Plus membership that includes unlimited access to a huge back catalog of PS and PS2 games.  The possibilities are mind-blowing.

Of course, this all assumes that Sony does anything respectable and doesn't charge and arm and a leg for it...so I guess there's still plenty of time for them to mess it all up. :-/

Not a bad move, but at least cloud gaming isn't the norm just yet. 

A trend is forming:

Sony buys, invents, and invests in things related to gaming.

Microsoft buys, invents and invests in things not related to gaming. 

I don't see how there could be any more stark a choice when deciding whose next generation console to buy. 

This can only mean good things for Sony:

One one hand, they have a massive streaming platform to put to good use, streaming PS2 or PS1 games, and probably PS3 demos, as they've expressed. On the other hand, they've eliminated a major competitor, so even if this fails, it's still probably money saved.

I'm interested to see where this goes, especially what it means for the Vita. It could turn Sony's portable into the best mobile cloud gaming device.

Still, I'm not looking forward to the all-cloud gaming future. As long as conventional gaming is here to stay, I won't mind it. Much.

This might actually strenghten the rumored blocking of used games on the next-gen Playstation imo.

Are we actually supposed to get excited about new ways that console developers think of to make money?

Show me games!

I think Sony are just getting all their ducks in a row. We all know that the future is digital downloads over discs, streaming services and cloud storage. It's both cost effective and more easily managed. Broadband is only going to improve with time making most current connection problems obsolete. I think Msoft and Sony will be watching Onlive very carefully to see how they play out. Should they be successful you'd expect one or the other to buy it out and integrate it into their future systems.  

So does this mean that I won't need to buy a PS4 and can just keep using my PS3 until it dies?

that's a lot of money.

And I thought Microsoft had integrity in their products. Sony might just win. But let's wait till the PS4 and new xbox. 

Good news for Gakai, bad news for Sony, because I doubt they're going to be able to leverage the service effectively. The big problem with streaming services, aside from the fact that a lot of people still don't have the bandwidth to use them, is the fact that ISPs aren't going to allow their users to quintuple their bandwidth usage without charging a premium for it.

Where did Sony get the cash for this?  Sony is deep in the red and doesn't have the reserve cash war chest that MS and Nintendo have.

This couldn't have been a stock and debt deal, no M&A is done without cash exchanging hands.

And if Sony gets hacked again? No more cloud games!

AWESOME!! i can play my PS3 at my backyard

I just had to put my bandwidth limit on suicide watch.

Now is the time to keep cloud-gaming in check. As long as it's in check, Sony will tread carefully when it comes to using this technology. Making more content available to PS users will be a boon to PS owners like myself. If it becomes prevalent, this will without a question become the next generation of DRM, which will actually be a misnomer since no consumer will actually own any game (game license technically) at all. You will just buy, actually I think the more likely possibility is rent or subscribe, to the rights to play games off company-held master servers. $60 per playthrough? $15 per month of access? Trade in your access rights for a % of the game you have not accessed as credits for other games? So many possibilities.

Not only that, all these business will tie their fate with yours. "You better make sure we never go belly-up no matter how greedy or incompetent we become. Once we go bankrupt, all your purchases go with us." It's amazing how the gaming market is simultaneously offering more choices than ever and increasingly making consumers into a slave or host (as in host to parasites) race.

A nice buy. Perhaps a bit dear though....

This is a game changer for the console environment I think.

I have been playing onlive for along time now. I have also been checking out all the new demos that gaikai puts up on there site. Needless to say I have a 15Mb download, and a 2Mb upload and they both work pretty damn good. I have played and played games on onlive, without any major problems. I love how people change there minds once a bigger company buys a cloud gaming service. before most would just say it flat out doesn't work, or that it will lag to much.

So does this mean I would be able to play God of War, Battlefield, and LittleBigPlanet games on my laptop and tablets soon? If that's the case then why need a PS4 or a Vita?

Since this is now owned by Sony, I think I'll download it.

If this will allow me to play my ps3 or 4 games on my playststion certified sony tablet s then this is good news. Come on sony, if you want my money, just make ps2 games be playable on YOUR f****n tab. Why are you always half hearted with your endeavors? how can games even better than old ps2 games be downloadable for FREE on google play? Like I said I will pay for the games, just make the playstation certified brand RELEVANT.

I think using cloud gaming is great for testing out demos because come on who wants to wait to download  a 800mb to 2g demo just to play it one time the faster I can tell if the game sucks the better for gamers

I know they just bought out an entire company, but am i the only one that thinks that is still a f**k load of money?

wow another horrible move by Sony. Cloud gaming outright blows at the moment.

Well this sounds cool! I'm an 360 guy myself, but streaming games is a neat concept. Will I ever actually use it? Unless I'm forced to, no, because I'd rather have the physical product (call me old fashioned I guess) but I can see how it would be a benefit. Wouldn't surprise me to hear of MS doing something along these lines down the road. Is it enough to break me from my Xbox though? Nah. Its all about the controller, and the PS/PS2/PS3 controller has never felt right to me. I do feel that this is a big push for Sony to help revive themselves as a company, adding value to their most profitable product right now is good. Glad to see some healthy competition in the gaming industry!  

Where did all the cash come from?

Have people started buying Sony TV's again or what?

oh yea... This is Epic news. A Huge win for Sony to acquire the definitive streaming game service. With almost unlimited processing power at your finger tips, it opens up to so much potential.

I expect some sort of implementation will come to the PS3 to test the uncharted waters, then the service will likely be fully integrated to PS4.

I wonder what this could potentially mean for the PS4.  Will we be able to play PS4 games on tablets and laptops using cloud streaming technology?

Cloud gaming is a disgrace for any gamer, to me this is just another form of Game with DRM.

I think having a choice between physical media and streaming is the best way to go. If Sony was to just go with streaming and then they got hacked again it would be very bad for everyone. Not putting all your eggs in one basket is always the best way to do things, it makes recovering from a problem much easier.

Oh, man! This is the best investment that Sony has made since 2000! This may be the first time that traditional console maker completely takes part in the revolution from the era of Internet. Good job, Sony!