Cloud gaming has a strong future despite discouraging figures surrounding OnLive's reported problems, a major videogame organisation says.

According to a report in trade magazine MCV, OnLive had 1,600 users even though it ran 8,000 servers offering up a subscription-based cloud gaming service.

The low numbers and financial problems is understood to have pushed OnLive close to bankruptcy but the sale of its assets to a new company has seen it survive.

But TIGA says it does not believe that the problems point to a failure of the technology.

 

The group argues that the sale of Gaikai to Sony shows that cloud gaming is still very much part of the future of gaming and that developers can look to it with optimism as a potential revenue stream.

Jason Kingsley OBE, TIGA Chairman and CEO and Creative Director at Rebellion, said: "There is no doubt that cloud gaming is innovative and exciting, with the potential to open up gaming to more players by streaming games direct to televisions, set-top boxes and consoles.

"It will almost certainly play a key role in the future of gaming. Such infrastructures are undoubtedly expensive to set up and users still have to be convinced but this is likely to come, especially in the light of Sony's purchase of Gaikai.

"TIGA welcomes any platform which helps developers to deliver their games to players and we believe cloud gaming has a strong future ahead of it.”