14 DAY TRIAL // The OnLive service launched in the United States last week and the company has now offered a closer look at the pricing scheme that it has implemented. Players are able to rent games for three or five days, or purchase them until the 17th of June, 2013. To have access to these purchases, one has to maintain their subscription with OnLive.
OnLive works by allowing its customers to play the latest games on any PC hardware through live video and audio streaming. The software is run by OnLive computers in a facility, while the player communicates with it through the Internet. OnLive warns that, for the service to work properly, at least a five megabit connection is necessary, or else lag would ensue.
The games that are available right now on OnLive include Batman: Arkham Asylum, Borderlands, Assassin's Creed II, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction, Trine and many others. For premium releases, OnLive charges from 40 to 60 dollars for an “unlimited” lease, that is until June, 2013. For some of these titles, five- or three-day rentals are available for seven and five dollars, respectively.
However, not all titles have all of these options available. For example, the latest Splinter Cell game, Conviction, can only be bought for 60 dollars, while Batman: Arkham Asylum can only be rented at the aforementioned prices. Some titles developed by independent studios are playable through OnLive for lower price points, ranging from five dollars to 20 dollars. The rent fees, in the cases where this service is possible, stay the same.
This makes OnLive quite a difficult offering for PC gamers, as the prices are roughly the same as those of the retail counterparts of the titles, but the licensing agreement is much weaker. OnLive is practically asking consumers to pay the same price they would at a brick-and-mortar store or at an online distribution service like Steam, but only own their purchases for a limited time and only while they pay their subscription fees.