Actually, information is scarce on when Mova started to create the topical OnLive service, but news is that developer Crytek started doing research on similar technology back in 2005. They stopped the project in 2007 since they figured that the bandwidth and broadband technology at the time had insufficient capacity. However, they made the assumption that a streaming videogame service could be ready at 2013.

“We saw that by 2013 - 2015 with the development of bandwidths and household connections worldwide that it might become more viable then,” said Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli. Since Crytek didn’t have a solution for the immense data traffic that would’ve had to be transferred, they determined that the project had to be put on ice until the infrastructure and cable net providers were up for the task.

“They have to provide fast bandwidths and connectivity in order to allow such technology to excel. So as it was dependent on somebody else, we decided to wait,” Yerli explained.

Debates over the probability of OnLive to actually function with thousands of concurrent players are still raging. My guess is that we’ll be forced to wait several years before the streaming service litterally is to be set free. I mean, even streaming low-res videos on YouTube is occasionally so slow it makes veins in my forehead grow. Even though Crytek has agreed to use Crysis as an example for OnLive demonstrations, they have nothing else to do with the project.