LiquidSky
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Cloud gaming, Cloud visualization |
| Founded | 2014 |
| Founder | Ian McLoughlin, Scott Johnston |
| Defunct | 2018 |
| Fate | Acquired by Walmart |
| Headquarters | New York City , United States |
| Products | Cloud gaming platform (LiquidSky) |
LiquidSky was a cloud visualization provider headquartered in New York City, which Walmart acquired in 2018. Its primary offering, a cloud gaming platform sharing the same name, debuted on March 24, 2017, and discontinued service in 2018. Introduced at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show, this platform aimed to address challenges such as latency and input lag that affected competitors like Sony’s PlayStation Now and NVIDIA’s GeForce Now for PC and Mac.
History
Established in 2014 by Ian McLoughlin and Scott Johnston under the name LiquidSky Software Inc., the company focused on enhancing cloud gaming performance by reducing latency and input lag—issues McLoughlin identified as shortcomings in earlier services like OnLive. Beginning in late 2014, LiquidSky conducted multiple user testing phases, which helped secure nearly $12 million in investment.
After two years of development, LiquidSky revealed at CES 2017 plans to launch in the first quarter of 2017 with a revamped client, improved datacenter infrastructure, and an ad-supported subscription tier. The initial release date was postponed from March 14 to March 24 due to server complications and launched with support exclusively for Microsoft Windows. Subsequently, an Android client update was released on July 11, 2017, while support for macOS remained under development.
Operations ceased on December 17, 2018, as the company pivoted toward developing a new streaming platform. Following Walmart’s acquisition later that year, LiquidSky’s technology and expertise have been integrated into other initiatives.
Features
LiquidSky provided low-latency connections, rapid intranet speeds, modern hardware configurations, and multiple storage options.
The platform maintained six datacenters worldwide at the following locations:
- San Jose, California
- Dallas, Texas
- Washington, DC
- London, England
- Frankfurt, Germany
- Hong Kong
Additional datacenters launched initially in Madras (India), Tokyo (Japan), Seoul (South Korea), Sydney (Australia), and Mexico were eventually discontinued due to limited user engagement relative to more mature markets. Contributing factors included absence of localized language support, VAT impositions, and payment processing costs.
Reception
Coverage from prominent technology media outlets such as Engadget, VentureBeat, Time, IGN, PC Gamer, and PCGamesN acknowledged LiquidSky’s achievements in delivering cloud gaming solutions where previous attempts like OnLive had encountered difficulties.