The power of Ant and Dec revealed as a million go Live
Online gaming consoled by numbers
The Logo
Microsoft claims that it has attracted over a million Xbox Live subscribers since the service launched in 2002.
The fact that indistinguishable Geordie favourites Ant and/or Dec (aka PJ and Duncan out of Byker Grove) launched the system in the UK, will have contributed to its popularity.
In all seriousness, Xbox Live has proven to be something of a revelation, re-igniting online gaming from the embers of Sega’s on-line Dreamcast pyre. Achieved through massive investment the likes of which the industry had never before seen, Microsoft installed a massive infrastructure, employing a heady mixture of marketing and concrete delivery enough to lure in an incredible million users.
The firm has also taken a healthy bite from Sony’s EyeToy drive, trumping the belated Trojan-outing party and announcing full video-conferencing, videomail et al, at this year’s E3 – one of the more telling ‘worst kept secrets’ the Xbox was still to let slip.
It is also something of a certainty that next year’s E3, rammed to bursting point with the distraction of fifth-generation hardware, will see Microsoft announce some form of content-delivery system. Seeing Apple trounce all comers in the music download market will be making Redmond very unhappy indeed.
Just as Microsoft whitewashed the opposition in the personal computer market, it is now aiming for dominance in the living room. This has somewhat been overlooked by those currently running riot in the sector. News Corporation and others might do well to open their eyes to a service that could emerge into the market space fully evolved.
Tellingly, no regional breakdown of users was offered at this time.
The fact that indistinguishable Geordie favourites Ant and/or Dec (aka PJ and Duncan out of Byker Grove) launched the system in the UK, will have contributed to its popularity.
In all seriousness, Xbox Live has proven to be something of a revelation, re-igniting online gaming from the embers of Sega’s on-line Dreamcast pyre. Achieved through massive investment the likes of which the industry had never before seen, Microsoft installed a massive infrastructure, employing a heady mixture of marketing and concrete delivery enough to lure in an incredible million users.
The firm has also taken a healthy bite from Sony’s EyeToy drive, trumping the belated Trojan-outing party and announcing full video-conferencing, videomail et al, at this year’s E3 – one of the more telling ‘worst kept secrets’ the Xbox was still to let slip.
It is also something of a certainty that next year’s E3, rammed to bursting point with the distraction of fifth-generation hardware, will see Microsoft announce some form of content-delivery system. Seeing Apple trounce all comers in the music download market will be making Redmond very unhappy indeed.
Just as Microsoft whitewashed the opposition in the personal computer market, it is now aiming for dominance in the living room. This has somewhat been overlooked by those currently running riot in the sector. News Corporation and others might do well to open their eyes to a service that could emerge into the market space fully evolved.
Tellingly, no regional breakdown of users was offered at this time.
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Comments
schnide 16 Jul 2004 17:05
1/6
Hey Spong, when you're done with Microsoft, can you lick my ass too?
Pandaman 16 Jul 2004 20:00
2/6
schnide wrote:
>Hey Spong, when you're done with Microsoft, can
>you lick my ass too?
Speaking of asses, how long until people realize that the online subscriber to console owner ratio is pathetic?
>Hey Spong, when you're done with Microsoft, can
>you lick my ass too?
Speaking of asses, how long until people realize that the online subscriber to console owner ratio is pathetic?
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Funky 16 Jul 2004 22:46
3/6
God I hate Ant & Dec. Geordie bastards. I'd love to throw them in a crocodile pit.
TigerUppercut 19 Jul 2004 12:46
4/6
schnide wrote:
>Hey Spong, when you're done with Microsoft, can
>you lick my ass too?
Exactly how does this lick anyone's ass? Did you read the piece?
>Hey Spong, when you're done with Microsoft, can
>you lick my ass too?
Exactly how does this lick anyone's ass? Did you read the piece?
almondVanHelsing 19 Jul 2004 16:42
5/6
Alan Poole wrote:
>Speaking of asses, how long until people
>realize that the online subscriber to console
>owner ratio is pathetic?
And how long until people ask how many ACTIVE subscribers on Live!, not just how many subscriptions have been sold?
>Speaking of asses, how long until people
>realize that the online subscriber to console
>owner ratio is pathetic?
And how long until people ask how many ACTIVE subscribers on Live!, not just how many subscriptions have been sold?
DoctorDee 20 Jul 2004 07:44
6/6
almondVanHelsing wrote:
>And how long until people ask how many ACTIVE
>subscribers on Live!, not just how many
>subscriptions have been sold?
Fer sure! I mean, you get a new console, it can do "cool stuff" on-line, and you can download some extra stuff for games you own. And a years subscription is only £39.99, and it's hyped to hell with sites like "http://www.ilovelive.com/" - which doesn't work in Mozilla BTW, but then, this IS Microsoft.
Only a fool wouldn't give it a go (but some people say only fools own Xboxes, so that might explain the penetration figures). But I bet out of that million "subscribers" only 200,000 of them ever play games on-line with any regularity.
>And how long until people ask how many ACTIVE
>subscribers on Live!, not just how many
>subscriptions have been sold?
Fer sure! I mean, you get a new console, it can do "cool stuff" on-line, and you can download some extra stuff for games you own. And a years subscription is only £39.99, and it's hyped to hell with sites like "http://www.ilovelive.com/" - which doesn't work in Mozilla BTW, but then, this IS Microsoft.
Only a fool wouldn't give it a go (but some people say only fools own Xboxes, so that might explain the penetration figures). But I bet out of that million "subscribers" only 200,000 of them ever play games on-line with any regularity.