OnLive Arrives June 17

This week at GDC OnLive CEO Steve Perlman announced that the online gaming service will launch on June 17th in America. The company is planning to roll out the service across all 48 contiguous states, and a monthly subscription will cost $14.95. Perlman also announced that the first 25,000 people to sign up for OnLive via the company's website will receive their first three months free.

For those waiting for the other shoe to drop, yes there are some strings attached. The $14.95 fee is just the base rate to access the service, additional costs will apply for all rentals and purchased games. These amounts haven't been announced yet, so we can't speculate as to what they might be. Also, the company is planning different pricing tiers for different levels of service, so it's hard to say just how cheap or how expensive OnLive will actually be. Also note that this launch date is merely the day when the service will be available for PC and Mac users, there's been no word if the hardware needed to run OnLive directly from your television will launch simultaneously. And obviously none of this answers the most important question, does it work?

Seems that in order to be successful OnLive is going to have to offer a superior product than GameFly at a price point that comes in under $22.95 a month (the cost of the most popular GameFly plan). It's a daring service and one that most members of the industry have viewed with skepticism, but if it works Perlman will undoubtedly be hailed as a visionary who may change the way we play forever. One way or another, this summer is shaping up to be very interesting indeed.

» Go to Source