Cloud gaming services provider OnLive has opened up its new CloudLift product to public beta.
The service allows users to access games purchased and downloaded from Steam or similar services on any device through the cloud. Previously, customers would have to purchase the game again from OnLive if they wanted to play it through the cloud, even if they had already bought a downloadable copy and vice versa.
Now, however, gamers will only need to upload their games and metadata to OnLive, where all subsequent saves will be stored, allowing them to pick up where they left off.
Mark Jung, executive chairman of OnLive, told Venture Beat: “We got rid of that choice where gamers had to own it locally or play it in the cloud. Now they can do both.”
Currently, CloudLift only supports 20 games, including all three currently released games in the Batman: Arkham franchise, Saints Row IV, and the LEGO Movie Videogame.
OnLive is offering a free seven day trial of the service, which will subsequently be charged at £9.99 per month. As there is no contract, users can cancel at any time.
The company has also announced OnLive Go, which is aimed at players of massive multiplayer online (MMO) games, such as War Thunder and Second Life, allowing them to play on mobile devices for the first time.
Jung said: “In this last year, we have been repositioning the company and redesigning our services for a positive business going forward.”
“We have rearchitected it to deliver a much higher value proposition for the users,” he added.
The launch of CloudLift and announcement of OnLive Go come after a year and a half of silence from the company, which underwent a “bankruptcy alternative” in August 2012 amid mass layoffs and the departure of its CEO.
At the time, the organisation was reported to have debts of between $30 million and $40 million. The manoeuvre to avoid total bankruptcy resulted in all of its shareholders losing their money.
Gary Lauder, former chairman of the company and now its lead investor, said at the time: “OnLive is now positioned to execute against longer-term projects with our breakthrough technology, products and services...and I am even more convinced this company is poised for greatness.”
