I agree that the business model probably doesn't make sense generally but Onlive isn't a useful example. Over $3000/user/month (5M/1600) sounds absolutely ridiculous. You could buy a new machine for each user every month, host it, license the software on it and still afford to pay the bandwidth.
It seems highly likely that the support costs for the 1,600 users were noise amongst the staff, marketing, licensing and other costs (including potentially wasteful overprovisioning based on expected sales).
Having said that if it cost even $10/month (and it may be more or less) to support a user the whole business model may break down.
It seems highly likely that the support costs for the 1,600 users were noise amongst the staff, marketing, licensing and other costs (including potentially wasteful overprovisioning based on expected sales).
Having said that if it cost even $10/month (and it may be more or less) to support a user the whole business model may break down.