HTC invests $40m in OnLive to fuel cloud-based smartphone gaming
Saturday, February 26, 2011
, Posted by Unknown at 8:41 PM
In its second content-focused deal in two days, HTC has revealed it is buying a stake in cloud gaming startup OnLive.
Fresh from buying mobile multimedia firm Saffron Digital yesterday, HTC has announced a second content investment. The handset maker is buying a $40 million stake in US cloud gaming startup OnLive.
The news was announced in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange, and subsequently expanded on in an interview with theWall Street Journal.
Spokesperson Maggie Cheng tells the WSJ that the deal will "strengthen its gaming capabilities and help HTC tap into increasing demand for games on smartphones".
OnLive enables people to play rich PC/console games on devices without running them locally - hence the 'cloud' aspect. OnLive has already launched an iPad app, in December last year, but it currently only allows people to watch others playing OnLive games, rather than play themselves.
HTC has not elaborated further on its plans to integrate OnLive into its devices, but we suspect there may be some interesting announcements ahead for the partnership, particularly as HTC unveils its first tablets in the coming months.
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