OnLive CEO Steve Perlman Leaves Company

A press release published late yesterday reveals that Steve Perlman, the founder and CEO of cloud-gaming company OnLive, has left the company under not-so-clear terms. Over the last week or so, the company has shed all of its stock, half of its employees, and changed hands in terms of ownership, with assurances that Perlman would stay at the company.

Now, though, the release says he’s left OnLive “to work on his myriad of other projects.” He’s been replaced in the top-spot by none other than Gary Lauder, the managing director of Lauder Partners—you know, the investment firm that took control of the company when it avoided filing for bankruptcy last week. Lauder’s new position is that of COO and acting CEO, presumably until they hire someone/promote someone to the CEO position.

Said Lauder:

“Steve has created an extraordinary company that no one else could have created. He is a unique entrepreneur and deserves his legendary status in Silicon Valley as a creator of groundbreaking companies. The new OnLive is emerging with greater financial security and a brighter outlook on the future. OnLive is now positioned to execute against longer-term projects with our breakthrough technology, products and services. I spent my first week with OnLive listening, to gather people’s thoughts and suggestions. It’s an impressive group, and I am even more convinced that this company is poised for greatness.”

It’s unclear whether Perlman was ousted or left of his own accord, but either possibility is just as likely. Interestingly, this is by far the most amount of coverage OnLive’s gotten in quite some time…so are we all just waiting for the company to finally close its doors? Or is cloud-gaming something that people actually want more of?