OnLive Introduces Flat Rate Netflix-Like Pay Option

Cloud-based game streaming service OnLive is introducing a $9.99 a month flat-rate plan, a package that lets users pay a-la-carte for access to new or "top-tier" titles while receiving unlimited access to everything else. Today the company is shipping its $99 controller and MicroConsole bundle to retail, giving consumers their first chance to check out the company's service directly from their televisions for the first time. OnLive has been available on the PC, where it requires only an internet connection, since June, but the living room offering includes a palm-sized attachment for the television and a customized controller. When OnLive CEO Steve Perlman showed Gamasutra the MicroConsole last month and discussed the company's plans, he described the flat-rate tier plan as "like a Netflix for video games, in the sense that you have... back catalog titles and brand-new titles." Subscribers to the flat-rate plan, which it calls "PlayPack", would have unlimited access to the back catalog and to indie games, and then have the option of buying new releases -- or renting them for about $4 -- or waiting until those titles drop into the flat rate tier. OnLive had originally planned to introduce a monthly subscription fee to all users, but scrapped that idea when it realized it could support itself without it. Users will still be able to pay no subscription fee at all if they choose, and purchase or rent content entirely on an individual basis. The PlayPack plan becomes available January 15.