Cloud gaming service OnLive has announced that Japanese electronics giant Sony has bought many of its assets, and the company will cease operations on April 30.

OnLive;s users will be able to use the services until April 30, including the OnLive Game Service, OnLive Desktop and SL Go, and the company's Second Life browser. The company announced that it would not charge any money for any of these services. Users whose subscriptions renewed on or after March 28 will be refunded.

OnLive was once a pioneer in its field as network-based computers like Citrix had existed for some time, but they had failed to adapt the same principles to gaming. Users, armed with either a microconsole or basic PC, could tap into OnLive's network of servers and render a high-end game at maximum settings without investing in a high-end PC.

OnLive enabled subscribers to buy games elsewhere and play them using OnLive's servers. OnLive's users were allowed to play those games without latency issues, as the information was passed back and forth between the player and the OnLive servers. But the business model apparently wasn't sustainable. In 2012, OnLive founder Steve Perlman unexpectedly sold and restructured the company.

OnLive was reborn in 2014 but Perlman was no longer with the company. The company, however, kept many of its features: the cloud gaming technology, now tied in with Valve's Steam service, and the PlayPack, the library of 250 or so older games that was available to users to play for a monthly fee.

OnLive's assets will join Gaikai, the OnLive cloud gaming rival that Sony bought in 2012.