Gaikai doesn't "expect remote gaming to be patentable"

Game-streaming firm Gaikai has refuted suggestion that OnLive's recently-revealed cloud gaming patent might present a problem.

"We share OnLive's vision that streamed gaming is a key element of the future of the video game industry," said Gaikai boss David Perry in a statement to VentureBeat.

"We do not expect the general concept of remote gaming to be patentable, as many of us played remote games in the 70's, 80's and 90's. Neither Gaikai nor OnLive were the first to develop technology in this area."

Perry observed, however, that Gaikai had its own cloud-related patents, and had "been careful to avoid technology where we think that other companies may develop valid patent rights."

He was adamant that Gaikai and OnLive presented fundamentally different offerings, specifically observing that "we are not concerned with making set-top boxes, which is the focus of OnLive's patent, because from the beginning we decided to go frictionless and not require a specific hardware configuration."