Microsoft PR talks holiday numbers

[BoardBonobo]

Just goes to show how expensive the 360 really is.

 

[thatdude90210]

Is XBL profitable at such revenue levels?

Would they have to spend more for bandwidth, increasing costs?

Getting some payment helps offset the cost. Aren't the other guys, maybe not so much for Nintendo, aiming for similar level of service?

 

[iceberg187]

http://gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=155288

Microsoft on Friday listed the most played games on Xbox Live last year, in addition to revealing that 77 percent of 360 owners are paying Gold members.
According to Major Nelson, the top games based on connectivity of unique users (read: Gamertags) from Jan. 1, 2007 through Dec. 31, 2007 are:

1. Halo 3
2. Gears of War
3. Call of Duty 4
4. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
5. Call Of Duty 3
6. Crackdown
7. Oblivion
8. Guitar Hero II
9. Forza Motorsport 2
10. Lost Planet

Nelson also named the top-selling Xbox Live Arcade games in the following order:

1. TMNT 1989 Arcade
2. Worms
3. Castlevania: SOTN
4. UNO
5. Bomberman LIVE
6. 3D Ultra Minigolf Adventures
7. Sonic The Hedgehog
8. Pinball FX
9. Geometry Wars Evolved
10. Texas Hold 'em

Additionally, Microsoft said on Sunday that there are now more than 10 million Xbox Live Gold members (read: paying subscribers) representing 77 percent of 360 owners (not including Silver members).

 

[scooby_dooby]

Microsoft on Friday listed the most played games on Xbox Live last year, in addition to revealing that 77 percent of 360 owners are paying Gold members.

This is completely wrong. Gamepro butchered the initial MS press release.

 

[AlNom]

For one thing, why would they not include the silver members in that "100%". That's 77% Gold Members and 23% folks who don't have any Live membership.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Microsoft on Friday listed the most played games on Xbox Live last year, in addition to revealing that 77 percent of 360 owners are paying Gold members.

So 77% of 17 million XB360 owners is 13 million Gold Live! subscribers. And in only 10 million Live! subscriptions! Something don't add up there...

Best situation, about half of the XB360 owners are Gold subscribers, at least if those subscribers ignores multiple account holders per XB360. 10 million members is not the same as ten million unique consoles, which is a more noteworthy landmark which I expect they'd use as a measure rather than members. So it's probably 10 million accounts with some being shared between multiple boxes (can anyone get details on this?), of which a large percentage are Gold subscribers. If that's say 75%, you'd be looking at about half the total XB360 install base as being Gold members. Still, that's a noteworthy improvement on online gamers from last gen and shows at least the early market is quite favourably inclined to online services, and if we assume those Gold subscribers are paying in order to game online, shows a significant increase in online gaming such that it's no longer a smallish niche.

 

[dobwal]

So 77% of 17 million XB360 owners is 13 million Gold Live! subscribers. And in only 10 million Live! subscriptions! Something don't add up there...

Best situation, about half of the XB360 owners are Gold subscribers, at least if those subscribers ignores multiple account holders per XB360. 10 million members is not the same as ten million unique consoles, which is a more noteworthy landmark which I expect they'd use as a measure rather than members. So it's probably 10 million accounts with some being shared between multiple boxes (can anyone get details on this?), of which a large percentage are Gold subscribers. If that's say 75%, you'd be looking at about half the total XB360 install base as being Gold members. Still, that's a noteworthy improvement on online gamers from last gen and shows at least the early market is quite favourably inclined to online services, and if we assume those Gold subscribers are paying in order to game online, shows a significant increase in online gaming such that it's no longer a smallish niche.

Probably a misquote. I could believe that 77% of all Live accounts being "Gold" at one time or another, a free month of gold membership practically gaurantee that the majority 360 users who take their 360 online will be "gold" at one time or another, but "Gold membership" representing 77% of the total 360 userbase is probably untrue.

10 million members is not the same as ten million unique consoles, but when judging the success of Live itself, the number of gold or silver members is more important and relevant than the number of unique consoles.

 

[Cheezdoodles]

Wow, there are still people out there blindly believing PR statements...

You are aware that if they skew any number illegally alot of important people who signed this document and prepared it would get fired, and microsoft stock would also take a big hit.

While this is a PR document, yes, i have no reason to disbelieve microsofts numbers, they may compare it to wrong numbers vs the PS2 but the numbers of about their own console is correct.

The only thing they can use is weasel math, all the numbers are correct, but they only talk about and compare selected numbers. For example, they talk about 10 million xbl members, but they are not saying how many are Gold users, which IMO is very important to know.