OnLive was recently awarded a major patent for an “apparatus and method for wireless gaming,” effectively giving it an advantage on the entirety of the cloud-based gaming market. This is just one of many patents OnLive hopes to acquire in its continued beta, CEO Steve Perlman describing the patent and its effect on the OnLive brand.
“Hundreds of people have worked incredibly hard for more than eight years to bring OnLive technology from the lab to the mass market, not just overcoming technical and business challenges, but overcoming immense skepticism,” says Perlman. “It is gratifying to not only see people throughout the world enjoying OnLive technology in the wake of so many doubters, but also receive recognition for such a key invention.”
Dave Perry, CEO of rival cloud-based gaming platform Gaikai, issued a statement in response to the patent. Perry stated that his company is “unafraid” of the development, claiming the Gaikai service operates in a different way.
“We share OnLive’s vision that streamed gaming is a key element of the future of the video game industry,” said Perry in a statement. “We do not expect the general concept of remote gaming to be patentable, as many of us played remote games in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Neither Gaikai nor OnLive were the first to develop technology in this area.”
“Gaikai has filed a number of patents regarding cloud-based gaming. We have also been careful to avoid technology where we think that other companies may develop valid patent rights,” he continued. “With regard to OnLive’s new patent, we are not concerned with making set-top boxes, which is the focus of OnLive’s patent, because from the beginning we decided to go frictionless and not require a specific hardware configuration. As a consequence, you are witnessing the evolution of two companies with notably different business models.”