Thursday, July 10, 2014
Sony Buys Gaikai For $380 Million

Sony Buys Gaikai For $380 Million

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.

About Ernice Gilbert

Ernice Gilbert here. Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Gamesthirst. Thanks for stopping by, make yourself at home!
  • benzo

    This was certainly out of nowhere…we shall see what implications,if any, this will have on current and future sony platforms.

    EG…Check this article…has people buggin out about the game industry crashing…people are so full of doom and gloom these days.

    http://www.digitallydownloaded.net/2012/07/activision-blizzard-is-up-for-sale.html

  • http://www.gamesthirst.com Ernice Gilbert

    @Benzo: Thanks for the link!

  • nick

    sweet!
    wonder what this means for the deal they did with samsung earlier?
    that only mentioned this years TV line, so after this year that will probably disappear!
    if so that is a MASSIVE advantage for $ony!
    it will be interesting to see how they incorporate it.
    it wont be for music and movies because they just announced google TV for bravia TVs so it will use that.
    i hope $ony put this to work streaming ps1 and ps2 games to any device!
    only problem will be the same problem there having bringing over them onto the store, licensing.
    its a shame allot of the best ps1 and ps2 games licencing companies are either gone bust or switching making licensing almost impossible!
    id be so sweet if they somehow managed to get everything on there, id be so cool to be able to turn my ps3 on and play whatever ps1 or ps2 game i want!

  • http://www.gamesthirst.com Ernice Gilbert

    This is one of the biggest stories of 2012. This acquisition will change the games industry, and how it does business forever. I’m looking forward to great things~