E3 rumour: Sony to announce partnership with Gaikai or OnLive

In news that could be big news for the next generation of consoles, Sony is reportedly in the process of acquiring a “high profile cloud gaming firm”, specifically either Gaikai or OnLive.

That’s according to MCV, who seem to have a whole lot of insider information about Sony’s E3 show announcements. The site’s anonymous source is claiming that a deal between the companies is “is close to being signed”, and will include an “extensive” feature set.

Both Gaikai and OnLive provide cloud-based streaming services, offering users high-end gaming performance on low-end, internet-connected devices, including PCs, Macs, smartphones, and tablets.

The acquisition could be a huge thing for Sony, as it could theoretically open the PlayStation catalogue to non-PlayStation platforms, massively expanding its potential market. With Microsoft now holding 47% of the console market worldwide, this could be a total game-changer.

Yes, that was a really lame pun, and I apologise. Quinton, please don’t get the hose again.