[Rumor] OnLive Laying Off All Of Their Staff

[Ghostbear]

So far it's just hearsay, but we're getting rumors that Onlive has let their entire staff go. Other people are apparently hearing the same thing. If this is true, I hope everyone that was working there is able to get back on their feet as soon as possible. I'll update this story as we hear more.

This is the email that Brian Fargo says he received from an OnLive employee this morning:

Here is the email that I received from the OnLive employee at 11:37am this morning.

I wanted to send a note that by the end of the day today, OnLive as an entity will no longer exist. Unfortunately, my job and everyone else's was included. A new company will be formed and the management of the company will be in contact with you about the current initiatives in place, including the titles that will remain on the service.

It has been an absolute pleasure working with you and I’m sure our path with cross again.

[Update] According to Joystiq, Onlive is denying these rumors. Let's hope so, for the sake of all those folks' jobs.

[Update 2] The story gets more and more convoluted. Onlive has confirmed that they've been sold off by original owner Steve Perlman, and then restructured and spun off into it's own company. The new company is "backed by substantial funding" and will be looking to rehire many of the employees laid off today (about half the company) while hiring more staff to boot. But it seems like the move wiped out the stock options that many employees held, which was probably a feature of this accounting kung fu rather than a bug.

[Hawkzombie]

If the rumor IS true...I thought OnLive was actually doing well?

[danhoo]

I've got a reliable source that confirms that most people were laid off this morning. No idea what will happen with the service. Apparently their burn rate was crazy high.

[Hawkzombie]

Burn rate?

[Karak]

Originally Posted by Hawkzombie

If the rumor IS true...I thought OnLive was actually doing well?

Ya crazy. I thought they were doing well too, especially with the TV deals. Despite some issues I still liked their service. Especially their android app.

[Purple Santa]

Originally Posted by Hawkzombie

Burn rate?

from wikipedia:

Burn rate is a synonymous term for negative cash flow. It is a measure for how fast a company will use up its shareholder capital. If the shareholder capital is exhausted, the company will either have to start making a profit, find additional funding, or close down.

[danhoo]

Originally Posted by Hawkzombie

Burn rate?

Amount of money they were spending (each quarter, etc)

Edit: what Santa said

[Purple Santa]

Originally Posted by Karak

Ya crazy. I thought they were doing well too, especially with the TV deals. Despite some issues I still liked their service. Especially their android app.

What happens to the games people bought from the service? Do they go back into the cloud?

[Karak]

Originally Posted by Purple Santa

What happens to the games people bought from the service? Do they go back into the cloud?

Well that's a good question and something to keep an eye on as a totally DD company goes away. What about what we own? I am very interested as, even with steam, they are owning the actual content, and even more than Steam. Something I dislike immensely but understand logically.

I really feel this as my Tablet got some insane gameplay with their android app. LA Noire was not only playable but really technically well done and looked amazing on the tablet.

From what some are saying they may keep their copyrights and IP for particular things. People blame the CEO for not selling, but hey all the news sounded like they were moving forward fast, so it sounds like things just fell apart.

[PathMaster]

I am curious who courted them for purchase, as well as who may be interested if they want to sell now?

[biosc1]

What if...and this is going out on a limb...what if Valve is in the process of buying OnLive and they were a little premature with the layoffs?

Valve + OnLive service = Steam TV?

[Karak]

Originally Posted by PathMaster

I am curious who courted them for purchase, as well as who may be interested if they want to sell now?

I would bet, Sony at the very least looked into them, MS may have as they have been looking towards cloud and various techs for 3 years now. Who knows now but since it sounds like they filed for a reorg bankruptcy, something will remain of the old company. But what will remain is the big question.

[PathMaster]

Originally Posted by biosc1

What if...and this is going out on a limb...what if Valve is in the process of buying OnLive and they were a little premature with the layoffs?

Valve + OnLive service = Steam TV?

When I first heard, it sounded a little too quiet about it. Maybe they did all lose their Onlive jobs, but now have jobs someplace else? Possible I guess.

I would hope Valve would do right by the staff if they did indeed purchase them.

Originally Posted by Karak

I would bet, Sony at the very least looked into them, MS may have as they have been looking towards cloud and various techs for 3 years now. Who knows now but since it sounds like they filed for a reorg bankruptcy, something will remain of the old company. But what will remain is the big question.

I figured MS for a purchase of a streaming game service at one point, but nothing has come of it so far.

[Karak]

Originally Posted by PathMaster

I figured MS for a purchase of a streaming game service at one point, but nothing has come of it so far.

MS, if they can't buy it, they build it. I would guess they are building up their own service, as rumors seemed to indicate, and just going their own way.

[PathMaster]

Forbes article has all but confirmed it.

[UPDATE 1: A source familiar with the matter has told Kotaku that OnLive is preparing to file for bankruptcy.]

[UPDATE 2: Gamasutra reports that an internal source has confirmed mass layoffs inside OnLive.]

They are confirming that the business is on going, which can be taken in a number of ways, including the name being changed. But they are not commenting on the layoffs, so perhaps that part is indeed true.

[Widgetcraft]

From Twitter:

Originally Posted by @martyn_williams

Confirmed: employees leaving #OnLive headquarters with moving boxes. Am outside now.

[Vigil80]

Originally Posted by Hawkzombie

If the rumor IS true...I thought OnLive was actually doing well?

Well, if you're a subscription-based service company that needs more customers, you wouldn't exactly want people to know you were in trouble.

This news is going to cause people to avoid/leave the service, regardless of whether they're being bought. Probably why they wanted to initially deny it.

[Exodus]

With Sony starting up their service and Microsoft having to jump on that wagon I'm confident they will find gainful employment.

Sucks though, it was their baby.

[Widgetcraft]

They had a flawed business model. No body wants to pay a subscription to be able to purchase games, and then have all of their games held hostage by the subscription, on an unproven service. It's like taking an MMO subscription model and slapping it onto Steam.

[danhoo]

More random tidbits:

http://www.gamepolitics.com/2012/08/...-hands-meeting


Another article claiming the CEO laid people off to reduce liability to sell it off, which is a bit of a dick move, if true:

http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/17/sou...medium=twitter