Apparently OnLive‘s loss is Microsoft’s gain. The makers of the Xbox have been courting the employees laid-off by the cloud-based gaming service during their recent buyout fiasco, hosting at least one “OnLive Mixer” in Mountain View, California — very close to OnLive’s Palo Alto headquarters. Looks like someone might be staffing up for their own cloud-based gaming service.
OnLive recently laid-off its entire 200-member staff as part of company’s restructuring plan. The new company, also called OnLive, is currently in the process of hiring back employees; reports vary but rumors indicate that the company plans to rehire somewhere between twenty and fifty percent of their original staff. Unfortunately for them, it looks like they may not get the chance if Microsoft swoops in and hires them first.
Microsoft is looking to bring the OnLive staffers on in positions at their Mountain View campus, as well as their primary headquarters in Redmond, Washington, according to Eventbrite invitation for the mixer. There’s really only one good reason for this immediate staffing blitz.
Internal documents leaked earlier this year highlighted OnLive as a potential acquisition target for Microsoft. The idea of purchasing the company probably sounded even better after Sony bought up OnLive’s biggest rival, the cloud gaming service Gaikai, for $380 million. Now, instead of buying OnLive to compete with Sony, Microsoft can do the next best thing: Build their own cloud-streaming division using a considerable number of the people OnLive dismissed.
(via Gamesbeat)
- Read a little more about the OnLive buyout
- Or about how Sony bought out Gaikai
- Or you could sit back and dream about Ouya
