Gaikai Not Worried About Competitor OnLive's "Landmark Patent"

Earlier this week, OnLive CEO and founder Steve Perlman announced that a patent he filed for in 2002 pertaining to cloud-based games has been granted to him. An analyst went so far as to call it a "landmark patent." Cloud gaming is the fundamental idea behind OnLive and competitors like Gaikai, and yet Gaikai CEO David Perry is claiming that he's not worried, stating that neither service was the first to pursue the concept.

"We share OnLive's vision that streamed gaming is a key element of the future of the video game industry," he said in a statement (via VentureBeat). "We do not expect the general concept of remote gaming to be patentable, as many of us played remote games in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Neither Gaikai nor OnLive were the first to develop technology in this area."

Perry pointed out that Gaikai, too has filed for various cloud gaming patents, noting that it has "been careful to avoid technology where we think that other companies may develop valid patent rights." He also mentioned that OnLive's focus is on set-top boxes -- the MicroConsole that's been advertised on TV a good deal as of late -- whereas Gaikai "decided to go frictionless and not require a specific hardware configuration. As a consequence, you are witnessing the evolution of two companies with notably different business models."

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