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[AndroidFox]

Out of nowhere, after we all thought the rumor was a dud, Sony’ acquired Gaikai, the world’s leading cloud-based gaming company, for $380 million.

Said Andrew House, president and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc: “By combining Gaikai’s resources including its technological strength and engineering talent with SCE’s extensive game platform knowledge and experience, SCE will provide users with unparalleled cloud entertainment experiences. SCE will deliver a world-class cloud-streaming service that allows users to instantly enjoy a broad array of content ranging from immersive core games with rich graphics to casual content anytime, anywhere on a variety of internet-connected devices.”

Said David Perry, CEO of Gaikai: “SCE has built an incredible brand with PlayStation and has earned the respect of countless millions of gamers worldwide. We’re honoured to be able to help SCE rapidly harness the power of the interactive cloud and to continue to grow their ecosystem, to empower developers with new capabilities, to dramatically improve the reach of exciting content and to bring breathtaking new experiences to users worldwide.”

The acquisition allows Sony to establish a cloud-based gaming service and expand its business network to take full advantage of Gaikai’s vast technology infrastructure, including data centers serving many countries and key partners the world over.

Just like Onlive, which has set itself up as a subscription service for consumers, Gaikai runs its games from the cloud, which means relatively weak computers, tablets or even smartphones can run high-end game experiences over the internet.

Your move, Microsoft.

[Pie]

Hrm... I wonder if they will actually launch a super-cheap microconsole as well as the PS4... That'd be a really interesting avenue.

Gaikai seemed cool when I tried it for demos and stuff once or twice, so I can't really say anything negative about this acquisition.

[ANTIOX_]

As long as you can still buy physical copies of games. I like my options :-)

[Sonic]

I still don't understand how streaming services work, probably because I've never cared enough to try one. I guess this is cool though, seems like it will help sales. I just don't want retail games to go away.