[Update] According to a recently announced statement, the new company is called OnLive, Inc. and is “backed by substantial funding” that will allow them to hire “a large percentage” of staff “across all departments” as well as “additional OnLive employees”. It also notes that the company’s future plans, products and services will not be affected by this development.
Original story below:
OnLive is the streaming service that has very much been under suspicion today following rumours of staff layoffs and service cancellation. The latter, having been officially dismissed, may no longer be a concern, but the same cannot be said for the now confirmed staff cuts.
A former employee of OnLive has spoken to Engadget about recent events. According to this source, a meeting held at 10AM today saw the company’s CEO announce massive layoffs which has resulted in at least 50% of the staff losing their jobs. Coming as part of company-wide cuts, further blows for those affected came in the form of no severance being offered and the apparent worthlessness of their stock holdings.
This move is thought to be as a result of an unknown-party purchasing the service. Those that haven’t been made redundant have apparently received letters from this company offering them ‘new’ jobs. Such dramatic cuts are likely to be indicative of financial struggles, and operating costs of $5 million a month have previously been reported.
OnLive, whilst perhaps somewhat incompatible with our current internet infrastructure, has surprised most with the quality of its game streaming service. Many have previously mentioned that they see the company as one built to be bought, but I don’t think any of them would have anticipated that it would be in a manner as abrupt or brutal as this.