Head in the Clouds: The reasons of OnLive's failure

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  • OnLive的最高同時上線人數大概1800位，註冊用戶2萬人。但是OnLive每個月卻有五百萬美金的的服務開銷。想想每個使用者平均要花多少錢才能回本，這是一個失敗的business model。
  • 錯誤的策略，這些console主機仍然是被玩家使用中的。OnLive卻仍想要賣服務給這些已經有主機的玩家。
  • 網路頻寬問題: 許多註冊用戶被發現他們並沒有去依照OnLive的需求來升級頻寬。
  • 如果你給一個人免費服務，他們會覺得這東西的價值是比較低的，遊戲主機的business model會運作的原因是當你購買了一台主機，用戶會想證明自己的投資是對的就會購買更多的遊戲。但對於OnLive的用戶因為沒花到錢，所以也不急著要付費投資他，包含去申請符合OnLive要求的網路頻寬。
  • OnLive的針對用戶是core gamer和搶先玩家。但是他們不會滿意OnLive的performance，包含lag和畫面失真等不可避免由於網路頻寬造成的結果。OnLive所提供的軟體不是最熱門最新的遊戲，這些核心玩家是不會有興趣的，反而這樣的服務會吸引casual玩家(對於最新遊戲或是購買最新硬體沒這麼熱衷的玩家)，但這種玩家通常頻寬不會太好。
  • 本身的硬體更新每次費用都會非常昂貴。
  • 它不是console平台的掌握者，它沒辦法掌握硬體的升級，說服玩家只要用低規的硬體就可以遊玩高級的遊戲。
  • 隨著Graphics processor越來越便宜和精巧，以及效能越來越好。越來越多輕薄的手機終將會超越現今的console，然後在家裡的TV上用它們遊玩高級遊戲。
  • 當一切策略錯誤後，沒有將目標鎖定到專一特殊的領域。例如，Gaikai專精提供game demo服務。

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