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Reports: OnLive fires all staff, service’s future unclear

arstechnica.com

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Re: Reports: OnLive fires all staff, service’s future unclear

#21

Post by [deleted] »

superbeefy wrote: post #18
mjfern wrote: post #15

One of the major reasons why OnLive struggled (and now failed) is because they launched their platform (20010) well after the launch of the XBox 360 (2005) and PS3 (2006). Serious gamers, the early adopter market for OnLive, already had purchased an XBox 360 and/or PS3. Since OnLive, as far as I can tell, didn't have any compelling, exclusive titles, and provided a gaming experience that was inferior to alternatives,…

The fallacy here is that only serious gamers play on consoles. PC gaming is back on the upswing, and one could argue that PC gamers are just as serious or even more so than console gamers. The thing that OnLive offered was a way to play high quality AAA game titles on basically any device that has a internet connection and can play video. Where they failed I think was the pricing model, prices were too close to retai…

[deleted]

Re: Reports: OnLive fires all staff, service’s future unclear

#23

Post by Steko »

hujjio wrote: post #19
delinka wrote: post #16

This is why tech people should really begin negotiating severance into their compensation. Yeah, yeah - how do you get rid of people who aren't a good fit? I dunno. Maybe, make the formula for calculating severance account for employment duration. What happens when you got hired a week ago and the whole company is now being fired? I dunno. Perhaps a mass firing clause. I don't have the answers, but severance pay soun…

The only way to protect against this kind of abuse is to unionize.

It's certainly not the only way, people can demand these things when they sign up. They usually don't. More and more will start to though.

I hope these employees take everything they know about Onlive to a new competitor. Or Anonymous.

Re: Reports: OnLive fires all staff, service’s future unclear

#24

Post by Steko »

vardump wrote: post #17
jhuckestein wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it would be great if they licensed their technology to a company that can leverage it. Fingers crossed that Apple does something with this. This doesn't mean that they're becoming an evil patent troll.

I think and really hope it's Google. Onlive is a threat to Apple's walled garden model. Apple might just want to shut it down.

I doubt Google would dick over the employees like this. Even the extraneous Motorola employees they didn't want to acquire got to stay on through the whole acquisition plus a year's severance.

Re: Reports: OnLive fires all staff, service’s future unclear

#25

Post by iandanforth »

mirsadm wrote: post #5

I liked the idea of OnLive. In fact since I've been travelling a lot over the past year I wanted to play some games that I couldn't (because my laptop sucks). The problem I found is that it is just too expensive to play the games I wanted. They cost the same amount as purchasing a physical copy. I couldn't justify that as it provides a degraded experience and I know when I come home I have a great computer I can play…

This was exactly my reaction. I thought I was signing up for a Netflix style service, but instead I was getting a membership to a game store that I had to pay for.

Re: Reports: OnLive fires all staff, service’s future unclear

#26

Post by krakensden »

hujjio wrote: post #19
delinka wrote: post #16

This is why tech people should really begin negotiating severance into their compensation. Yeah, yeah - how do you get rid of people who aren't a good fit? I dunno. Maybe, make the formula for calculating severance account for employment duration. What happens when you got hired a week ago and the whole company is now being fired? I dunno. Perhaps a mass firing clause. I don't have the answers, but severance pay soun…

The only way to protect against this kind of abuse is to unionize.

Unionization is a big step. You get protection, but it's also expensive, makes HR sclerotic, and you run the risk of having union management wander off into lala land.

If you're a competent programmer, unionization is probably a net loss for you.

Re: Reports: OnLive fires all staff, service’s future unclear

#27

Post by Steko »

bicknergseng wrote: post #10
stevencorona wrote: post #4

Ah man- I played with OnLive a little bit and it seemed like a product that had so much potential to revolutionize the industry. Maybe it was ahead of its time?

Need.... Google... Fiber...

We really just need more mature LTE networks. I've seen LTE pings around 40. If they can get that down under 25 consistently that's pretty much all you need to move the gaming world to thin clients.

Re: Reports: OnLive fires all staff, service’s future unclear

#28

Post by icebraining »

malkia wrote: post #20
superbeefy wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fallacy here is that only serious gamers play on consoles. PC gaming is back on the upswing, and one could argue that PC gamers are just as serious or even more so than console gamers. The thing that OnLive offered was a way to play high quality AAA game titles on basically any device that has a internet connection and can play video. Where they failed I think was the pricing model, prices were too close to retai…

OnLive is the ideal service for cpu/gpu games, and works great against cheaters in multiplayer games (No more transparent or wireframe walls, boxes around enemy players, and other tricks) but then most social/casual games are not cpu/gpu hungry.... I really want technology like OnLive to succeed... There is Gaikai too

I don't. OnLive is the ultimate DRM; abusive stuff like Securom can be bypassed, but with this tech any game can be killed without recourse. While I feel sympathy for the fired people, I'm also somewhat relieved that this was further delayed.

Re: Reports: OnLive fires all staff, service’s future unclear

#29

Post by ars »

> A new company will be formed and the management of the company will be in contact with you about the current initiatives in place, including the titles that will remain on the service

I hate that companies are allowed to do that. Sunrocket did that to me and basically stole around $150 worth of unused service. The new company apparently had no legal obligation to me.

It should be illegal to sell assets without also selling the debts/obligations together with them.

Re: Reports: OnLive fires all staff, service’s future unclear

#30

Post by _delirium »

krakensden wrote: post #26
hujjio wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only way to protect against this kind of abuse is to unionize.

Unionization is a big step. You get protection, but it's also expensive, makes HR sclerotic, and you run the risk of having union management wander off into lala land. If you're a competent programmer, unionization is probably a net loss for you.

There are many models of unionization. I'm represented by a union (in Denmark), and it's not particularly sclerotic or adversarial. It's just an organization that is skilled in contracts and can provide advice and advocacy on my behalf, along with some information aggregation.

Their #1 most useful service is probably their email address that provides legal advice about whether I should sign a particular contract or not, and what my options are. Strikes are extremely rare, but consultations to ensure it never gets to that point are common. For example, if I were asked to sign a never-before-seen contract provision, and I forwarded it to them, they might use their backchannel contacts with the company to ask what this is all about, and, if the answer isn't to their liking, warn other members to watch out for this new provision. That helps make sure that changes like that don't slip by unnoticed. It may, admittedly, help that there is a cultural value against labor strife, so companies lose a lot of face if they get to the point of open conflict with their union. That allows unions to mostly do their job without having to exercise "hard power" like actual strikes.

The main things they do, imo, is to make sure that workers are informed about what contracts they're signing, and that companies get appropriate pushback about the more onerous provisions. Americans also do that to some extent, but since they lack effective unions, they have to do it via legislation, like how California has banned noncompetes.

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