cloudplay_
R.I.P.

The cloud gaming graveyard

Every service that streamed games, then stopped. When it died, why, and where its players went.

10 graves · last burial January 2025

HERE LIES

Utomik

2022 – 2025

“Fought long and hard.”

A Dutch subscription with more than a thousand games, downloaded on PC and streamed to Samsung and Android TVs from 2022.

CAUSE OF DEATH
  • Cloud play went offline in November 2024 and new games stopped arriving.
  • The company filed for bankruptcy in January 2025 and closed the service the same month: “we have fought long and hard, but sadly, it was not enough.”
WHERE ITS PLAYERS WENTXbox CloudThe subscription with the games inside it that Utomik could not compete with, on the same Samsung TVs.Amazon LunaA library for a flat price, on a TV, with nothing to install.
HERE LIES

Nware

2020 – 2023

“Signed with Microsoft. Closed anyway.”

A Spanish service that streamed your own PC games to a browser, one of the names on Microsoft's Activision cloud deals.

CAUSE OF DEATH
  • Launched in 2020 and stayed in beta. In 2023 Microsoft named it among the services that would get Call of Duty in the cloud.
  • In August 2023 it emailed its members that the beta was closing. It never came back.
WHERE ITS PLAYERS WENTBoosteroidSigned the same Microsoft deal and is still here: your own games, no hour cap.GeForce NOWFreeWhere the Activision games from that deal actually landed.
HERE LIES

Google Stadia

2019 – 2023

“Refunded everything. Kept nothing.”

Google's own cloud gaming platform: games bought on its store, streamed from Google's data centres to Chrome, a Chromecast or a phone, with a controller that talked to the servers directly.

CAUSE OF DEATH
  • Announced on 19 March 2019 and launched on 19 November 2019, with the promise of a first-party studio. Google closed the studio in February 2021, before it shipped a game.
  • Google announced the shutdown on 29 September 2022 and switched the servers off on 18 January 2023. Every purchase of hardware and games was refunded.
  • The last game released was Worm Game, on 13 January 2023, an internal test title. A tool to unlock the controller's Bluetooth came out on 17 January, the day before the end.
  • Immersive Stream for Games, the white-label version Google sold to AT&T, Capcom and Peloton, died with it.
WHERE ITS PLAYERS WENTGeForce NOWFreeRefund in hand, most Stadia players bought their games again on Steam and stream them here. A free plan, and the same games.Xbox CloudThe other library-in-a-subscription with a controller-first design, on a TV, a phone or a browser.
HERE LIES

PlayStation Now

2014 – 2022

“Renamed. Still streaming.”

Sony's streaming subscription, born from Gaikai: PS3 games first, then PS4 and PS2, on a PlayStation and later a Windows PC.

CAUSE OF DEATH
  • Launched on 28 January 2014 in North America. Eight years of PS3 streaming that the new plan kept without a public catalogue.
  • Merged into PlayStation Plus Premium in June 2022. The service did not stop; the name did.
WHERE ITS PLAYERS WENTPlayStation PlusThe same streaming, in the Premium tier, with PS5 games added in 2023 and the PlayStation Portal since 2024.
HERE LIES

Vortex

2017 – 2022

“Ten euros. Then nothing.”

A cheap European service that streamed a shelf of PC games to a browser or an Android phone, from about ten euros a month.

CAUSE OF DEATH
  • Launched in 2017 by RemoteMyApp in Poland. The last update to its app was on 7 October 2021.
  • Removed from Google Play on 19 January 2022. The servers went off on 28 February 2022. The website is gone.
WHERE ITS PLAYERS WENTBoosteroidThe same idea done properly: a European service, your own games, Ultra from €7.49 a month paid by the year.GeForce NOWFreeA free plan, which Vortex never had, and the games you own on Steam.
HERE LIES

Jump

2017 – 2020

“Netflix for indies. Cancelled.”

A subscription to a shelf of independent games, streamed or downloaded, with 70% of the money going to the developers.

CAUSE OF DEATH
  • Launched on 19 September 2017 with a catalogue of indie games and no big publisher.
  • Its CEO announced the closure on 14 February 2020. No buyer, no successor.
WHERE ITS PLAYERS WENTXbox CloudGame Pass is the indie subscription that stuck: day-one indies, streamed from the cloud.Amazon LunaA curated library for a flat monthly price, party games included.
HERE LIES

LiquidSky

2017 – 2018

“A PC in the sky, briefly.”

A Windows PC in the cloud sold by the hour, with an ad-supported free tier announced at CES 2017. Install anything, stream the desktop.

CAUSE OF DEATH
  • Launched on 24 March 2017 after two years of beta. Walmart bought the company in 2018.
  • The service closed on 17 December 2018, the company saying it would build a new streaming platform. It never launched one.
WHERE ITS PLAYERS WENTBoosteroidThe nearest thing to a PC that runs what you own, without paying for a whole machine.GeForce NOWFreeThe games you own, streamed from an RTX rig, with a free plan LiquidSky never managed to keep.
HERE LIES

GameFly Streaming

2015 – 2018

“The tech went to EA.”

Console-style games streamed to Samsung and LG TVs and Amazon Fire TV, from the company that mailed game discs.

CAUSE OF DEATH
  • Launched in 2015 on smart TVs, a screen the big services would not reach for years.
  • EA bought the streaming technology and its engineers in May 2018. GameFly closed the service on 31 August 2018 and kept mailing discs.
WHERE ITS PLAYERS WENTXbox CloudCloud play on a Samsung TV and a Fire TV without a console, which is what GameFly sold first.Amazon LunaAmazon's own service on the Fire TV, included with Prime.
HERE LIES

OnLive

2010 – 2015

“Ten years too early.”

The first cloud gaming service most people ever saw: a small box under the TV, PC games streamed from OnLive's servers, a spectator mode and a subscription for a shelf of games.

CAUSE OF DEATH
  • Launched on 17 June 2010. Never profitable, it sold its assets for $4.8 million on 17 August 2012 and laid off its staff the same day.
  • Sony bought its patents in April 2015 and closed the service on 30 April 2015. The patents went into PlayStation Now.
WHERE ITS PLAYERS WENTPlayStation PlusSony's streaming is the direct heir: OnLive's patents and Gaikai's servers, inside PlayStation Plus Premium.GeForce NOWFreeThe box-under-the-TV idea lives on as an app on LG and Samsung TVs, with the games you own.
HERE LIES

Gaikai

2011 – 2012

“Bought, not buried.”

Cloud demos inside a web page: a full game streamed from an ad, no install. The technology Sony wanted for the PlayStation.

CAUSE OF DEATH
  • Launched on 27 February 2011. Sony bought it on 2 July 2012 for $380 million, the first big cheque in cloud gaming.
  • It became PlayStation Now in January 2014, and the Gaikai name was retired into Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2017.
WHERE ITS PLAYERS WENTPlayStation PlusIt is the same servers, three names later: Gaikai, PlayStation Now, then PS Plus Premium since June 2022.

Buried nearby

Not services, but things players lost in the same ground.

  • NVIDIA GameStream2013 – 2023Streamed your own PC to a Shield TV. NVIDIA removed it in February 2023 and pointed people at Steam Link and GeForce NOW.
  • Immersive Stream for Games2022 – 2023Stadia's technology sold to other brands. AT&T, Capcom and Peloton used it. It ended with Stadia.
  • Luna's game store2020 – 2026Amazon stopped selling games on Luna on 10 June 2026 and removed the games people had bought, with no refunds. Luna is a library now.
  • Blade, the first Shadow2015 – 2021The company behind Shadow went into receivership in March 2021. Octave Klaba, OVHcloud's founder, took it over on 30 April 2021. Shadow itself never stopped.

Still standing

The five services this site tracks every day, with what each one costs where you are. Their status is on the servers page, live.

GeForce NOWSince February 2020Free · Xbox CloudSince September 2020PlayStation PlusSince June 2022Amazon LunaSince October 2020BoosteroidAlive
Not sure which one? Answer four questions

Missing a grave? Write to hello@cloudplay.now with a date and a source.