With
very ignorance, we have kissed away
Kingdoms
and provinces.
Shakespeare
Like I’d blogged
a while back about the new mobile app, SL Go, which permitted Second Life (SL)
users to interact inworld as they went about Real Life (RL), and I had been
critical about its initial launch.
Subsequently,
a few of my beefs were corrected and folks spoke well of the tool.
I planned to
do a follow-up since there was now a decent free trial period.
Well, things
changed.
Sony
recently announced its acquisition of certain patents and intellectual properties of OnLive, the online gaming service that owns SL Go and as a consequence the app will be
shut down on April 30,, 2015.
Guess I
won’t be writing that story any time soon now!
Hard to
believe that it was just over a year ago that SL Go was first announced.
So, what
happened?
Why is Sony
buying some parts of OnLive and not others?
Does this
give us a hint into the future of SL itself?
OnLive’s
sale of selected assets is probably just part of the normal buying and selling of products and services
by larger global companies in the mistaken belief that somewhere along the line
“Synergy will create added value!” (Yes,
I know, I must sound terribly cynical.
If you had the wounds that I have from these deals, you’d be cynical
too!)
But, there
is that nagging question, why not SL Go too?
Let’s think
about this for a moment. (Significant Other starts to worry.)
Sony is a fairly
astute corporate player.
(Notwithstanding it’s recent email problems.) They know how to handicap the winners from
the losers.
Could this
decision to not purchase SL Go now be a sign of some doubt on their part about the
long term viability of SL?
Or, are they
worried about SL 2.0?
Linden Lab’s
new and improved version of SL that they don’t anyone too much about except for
“Trust us!” (Yes, yes, I know! I’ve already admitted to being cynical,)
Does the
sudden demise of SL Go mean the clock is ticking for SL?
How come no
one ever tells the residents of SL anything until it’s in the news?
As I’ve
blogged before, the Lindens remind me of the ancient Greek gods.
Legendary,
remote on Mount Olympus, interfering in the affairs of humankind as it suited
their whims, and nobody ever met one!
Let’s see
what the rest of the year brings!
As always,
I’m grateful to all inworld for their kindness and time in stopping to talk
with a stranger who was passing through their lives
I can be found on Google+ as
webspelunker Ghostraven.
On Skype I’m webspelunker
Ghostraven.
I welcome feedback from
readers, please either comment on my blog or
e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com
.
If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.
If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.
Open roads
and kind fires!
5 comments:
Good grief. Before writing something, could you at least research it?
1. Sony didn't acquire OnLive. They purchased 275 (ish) patents and associated IP held by OnLive, which they see as benefiting their existing streaming games service, PlayStation Now.
2. Sony aren't shutting down SL Go and "keeping other parts of OnLive going". Sony never had any interest in either purchasing or operating any of OnLive's five services.
3. Sony's action has *nothing* to do with SL. It came about because Onlive put themselves up for sale, but no-one wanted to buy them as a going concern.
If you'd like to be informed on the matter, then I politely suggest you either listen to the Drax Files Radio hour - http://draxfiles.com/2015/04/10/show-63-sl-go-sl-gone/
Or you read my own blog post on the matter - https://modemworld.wordpress.com/2015/04/05/why-sl-go-wont-continue-and-onlive-opted-to-sell/
Inara,
Damn!
You do read my blog!
Greatly appreciate your comments and have modified my story to reflect them.
(Yes, I'm one of those bloggers who will go back and adjust!)
For me, the key question is why wouldn't Sony be interested in a good product like SL Go?
Thanks for reading and commenting!
web
"For me, the key question is why wouldn't Sony be interested in a good product like SL Go?"
Because they're not in the market of supplying a service which provides access to someone else's platform. They're in the market of bringing gamers world-wide to their *own* platform and service.
Again, hence why they purchased OnLive's IP and patents, not the company and its services.
Wbby,
in addition to what Inara said: Even if Sony was in that market, SL Go does have a far too small of a user base for them to be interested.
Linden Lab is what we call a decent medium size company, with a relatively small activ user base from a corporate perspective. The User base of SL Go is even smaller.
Its just not interesting enough
Does all need to be mainstream to give profit?
the World is changing, niche markets are the way to go.
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