Cloud gaming service OnLive Inc. has finally given up the ghost and will officially close its service April 30th following a troubled, yet colorful history.

OnLive said in a statement that Sony Corp. had acquired “important parts of OnLive” and that “their plans don’t include a continuation of the game service in its current form.”

The company, founded in 2007 brought platform agnostic gaming via a cloud streaming service that allowed users to play a variety of games on multiple platforms, including PC, Mac, and mobile devices. OnLive also offered its own “gaming console” of sorts, a device you could plug into your TV and play games on, what a writer at SiliconANGLE described back in 2011 as delivering “quality and state-of-the-art specs…[which is] surprisingly economical with a price tag of $99 plus a free game of your choice.”

Despite being a fairly decent idea, the company hit trouble in 2012 when we reported it was forced to file for bankruptcy after owing creditors $40 million and being unable to pay it, this on top some $56.5 million in venture capital from investors including Time Warner, Autodesk, Maverick Capital, Lauder Partners, HTC and AT&T Intellectual Property.

The company though did rise from the dead and by the end of 2012 was acquired by a company that was also called OnLive. In early 2013 it was being billed as “game changing,” apparently not a reference to its business model.

Streamed games offed by OnLive included a range of titles including World of Warcraft, Assassin’s Creed and even its own version of Second Life, which surprisingly in 2015 is still a thing.

According to various reports, Sony Corp. picked up “more than 140 OnLive patents” and will use the technology to “play into the future of PlayStation Now.” Terms have not been disclosed although the price is likely far less than the valuation of $1.8 billion once mentioned in terms of the company.

Of note, Sony acquired OnLive’s main competitor Gaikai Inc. back in 2012 for $380 million.

photo credit: I got a new toy #onlive via photopin (license)