First reports of problems came, as so much does these days, on Twitter when "Their employees are sending out emails that  will be closed by the end of the day."

The tweet was quickly picked up by Mashable and spread across the web.

At 4pm an OnLive spokeswoman told reporters waiting outside the company's headquarters that a statement would be "soon," but as of 4:45pm it had yet to appear.

Around 2pm some employees were seen leaving the building carrying packing boxes. Others entered and still more could be seen inside but no one had anything to say.

One person entering the building, when asked if he worked for OnLive, paused apparently unsure of how to answer the question, then said "Kinda ... sorta." He declined to say anything about what staff had been told.