AfterDawn: News

OnLive will offer rentals without need for subscription

OnLive, the cloud gaming service set for a June launch in the U.S., will notably allow for a la carte rentals, says GI.biz, with CEO Steve Perlman confirming that subscription packages will not be required.

Basic OnLive packages cost $15 a month for "full OnLive services," but the rental "Portal" will not require a package.



Says Perlman of the individual rentals: "The OnLive Game Portal is for gamers looking for direct access to OnLive games without being required to subscribe to the features of the full OnLive Game Service. Through the OnLive Game Portal, gamers will be able to play select games directly on a rental basis as well as game demos for free; subject to available OnLive service capacity and whatever usage limits are associated with each given demo. Rentals will be priced on a per-game basis."

The a la carte rental "Portal" will launch a bit later than the the service, adds Perlman.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 13 Mar 2010 1:03

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• 5 comments

• av_verbal

  subscription models suck, how many good games were released last year worth playing?
  
  £10 per month = 120 per year, so the two good games i purchased would have cost almost 3 times what i paid for them retail + i own the disc's so when ms decide to shut off their DRM servers or offer the latest version of the game, i wont lose i wont lose what i paid for.
  
  this is the continuing move towards online distribution removing the second hand market, lets not fund them to remove our rights until we can pass on our digital copies and the new owner of the media not be penalised by being forced to purchase another licence or forced downloaded content.

  13.3.2010 03:48 #1

• KSib

  This news article is about how you don't have to pay the subscription if you don't want to you know. I certainly can't imagine paying the $15 a month to buy a game that you can't even technically download, but stream. I don't imagine they will be reimbursing you if their servers go down either.
  
  I do like that it's optional though otherwise this would have failed super hard super fast.
  

  13.3.2010 04:47 #2

• bam431

  As much as don't like subscriptions, 15 bucks a month seems pretty good. On average I buy 2-3 games a month that's like 120-180 bucks. I'm paying for Xbox live so that's another 5 bucks a month. If it works I could save a few bucks.

  13.3.2010 11:50 #3

• stuntman_

  everyone is really bashing onlive but I think it is really cool for what it is. People with decent computers really don't need this though. But people with Mac's and shitty pc's like man can really benefit from onlive I feel

  13.3.2010 13:22 #4

• windsong

  Originally posted by stuntman_: everyone is really bashing onlive but I think it is really cool for what it is. People with decent computers really don't need this though. But people with Mac's and shitty pc's like man can really benefit from onlive I feelPeople with shitty pcs and macs usually play "casual" games like those from Reflexive, and all the "hidden puzzle" games such as those popular with teenage girls. You know, games that don't require you to actually think.
  
  The guy who brought OnLive into the fray has had other scams over the years, defunct consoles that never took off, etc. Look him up and be amazed at his stupidity. He is always throwing out one scam after another to see who bites.

  13.3.2010 14:43 #5