One of the most anticipated announcements at E3 2012 was that Sony was going to either buy or partner with a major cloud gaming service such as OnLive or Gaikai but that announcement never came and it’s not going to come, at least not with Gaikai yet.
Gaikai’s CEO, David Perry, has been speaking to Eurogamer and has stated categorically that no deal yet exists between the two companies and that Gaikai’s goal is not to provide Sony with cloud based services but rather to act as the arms dealer for everyone and provide everyone with a cloud based service.
It’s a lofty goal and one that I doubt they’ll achieve as if everyone was using Gaikai then no one would have any advantage and that’s just not great for marketing.
Right now Gaikai is offering cloud gaming services on the upcoming Samsung and LG TV’s and while they have spoken to all three platform holders no deals have yet been signed.
But one thing for sure is that Sony aren’t going to be able to buy Gaikai outright so if that’s their end goal then OnLive seems to be the only option left other than building their own from scratch.
My prediction, Nintendo will partner with Gaikai while Sony either buys or exclusively partners with OnLive and Microsoft will build their own offering.
Last Updated: June 7, 2012