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Print 20 comment(s) - last by quiksilvr.. on Jul 11 at 12:55 AM
Revenue for downloads beat subscriptions for first time

Back when Microsoft first rolled out its Xbox Live network and charged gamers to play multiplayer games, many thought it was a mistake that would come back to haunt Microsoft. As it turns out, the decision to charge for Xbox Live was a great one by Microsoft making Xbox Live one of the only profitable parts of its gaming division.

Bloomberg reports that Microsoft has about 25 million users on Xbox Live as of the year ending June 30. About half those users coughed up the $50 yearly fee to play online games. With that amount of users paying for online gaming, analysts predict that Xbox Live broke the $1 billion revenue mark for the first time. 

Microsoft's Xbox COO Dennis Durkin told Bloomberg that revenue for downloads of TV shows and movies topped subscription revenue for the first time. Considering the $50 yearly fee multiplied by half that 25 million user number works out to $600 million, Durkins remarks suggest Xbox Live generated about $1.2 billion.

Analyst Matt Rosoff from Directions told Bloomberg, "Xbox Live has helped sell a lot of consoles and created a lot of loyalty. Everyone has been talking about Microsoft’s inability to innovate, but this is a pretty good example where they have innovated. They timed it just right with this one."

Despite the success of Xbox Live, many feel that Sony's PlayStation Plus offering has an uphill fight to match Microsoft's success. One example that illustrates this point is that there are 6 million gamers who play Halo on Xbox Live each month. Sony reportedly has under half that number of people playing all of its games available online each month.

Microsoft and Activision are the only two companies that are clearly successful in selling online gaming according to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick. Kotick said, "When it comes to online gaming, they’re the only significant alternative to us." Activision owns the Blizzard MMORPG World of Warcraft. Kotick also states that Activision wants a cut of the subscriptions from Xbox Live since its titles like Call of Duty are generating lots of money for Microsoft in subscriptions. He said, "We’re driving a lot of the subscription interest and certainly hours of game play."

Microsoft has continued to tweak and add to its Xbox Live service over the years to make it more appealing.  In June Microsoft offered up a Family Pack that is set to launch this November that will let users buy four memberships for the price of two at $100 per year. Microsoft did offer up bad news for gamers early this year that still played on their original Xbox consoles when it announced the discontinuation of the service for original Xbox.

With the success of Microsoft in selling online subscriptions for gaming, Sony has decided to try the same tactic. Sony announced PlayStation Plus at E3 this year. The cost per year will be $50, the same price that Microsoft charges.

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RE: Who Won the Console War this round?
By quiksilvr on 7/7/2010 1:23:24 PM , Rating: -1
Correction, Sony bashed and continues to bash Microsoft for charging people to PLAY ONLINE. Playstation Plus is NOT required to play games online. You can still play online without paying a fee.

Of all the mistakes that all consoles made, in my opinion, Sony made the least. I prefer the exclusives on the PS3, I prefer the hardware, and I prefer the long term prices. I don't have to buy a charge pack for my controller, I can upgrade the HDD, I can use any Bluetooth headset and I can play Blu ray.

Furthermore, they did a fantastic job bringing down the ludicrious $499/$599 price point down to $299/$349 price point. Granted we lost PS2 backwards compatibility (something I cared about long ago but PS3's library is big enough for me to finally move on), and I hope in the future they at least do some form of digital downloading in the future.

What did Nintendo or Microsoft do in this department? The Wii is at a ridiculous $199 price point and thanks to Microsoft's serious manufacturing oversight, they lost billions and can't afford to sell their slim 360 for anything under $299, even though it cost them well under that price to make it.


RE: Who Won the Console War this round?
By SPOOFE on 7/7/2010 2:04:27 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
Of all the mistakes that all consoles made, in my opinion, Sony made the least.

The funny part is that they clearly made the most; there's a reason Ken Kutaragi was tossed so soon after the PS3 debut. They've managed to make the most of it since - the price cut you mentioned worked wonders for their market share - but all the information we have about internal miscommunications at Sony fully explains why it took them years for their console to be anything but a solid "also-ran".


RE: Who Won the Console War this round?
By quiksilvr on 7/7/2010 11:22:07 PM , Rating: 2
Price was the biggest crutch. If the PS3 sold for $399 at launch like the 360 did it would be a much closer margin between the two consoles today. That was the biggest hurdle that developers were looking at as well. Why work on a console that most users don't want to buy?

But turn it around and you'll see that it isn't nearly as bad as the mistakes of the 360. Poor hardware. Proprietary and expensive accessories. Underwhelming features available on console out of the box (no HDMI port, no b/g wireless, restrictive USB memory support, etc.) Not to mention the insane work they had to do to replace over a million consoles.

Sony's biggest hurdle was price. Microsoft's biggest hurdle was the console quality and the accessories and the exchanges and the lack of functionality out of the box.

But the biggest reason why I would never buy a 360: more than 1/2 of their good exclusive games are already out on PC. What's the point? I'm not a fan of Halo 3 (Halo: Combat Evolved for PC online for life!) and Gears of War is more of a weekend rental instead of a buy. Mass Effect is on PC as is it's sequel and Lost Planet is on PC and its sequel will be on PS3.


RE: Who Won the Console War this round?
By satveeraj on 7/8/2010 12:50:19 AM , Rating: 2
No HDMI???, when the 360 was launched HDMI was unheard of so why would you pit MS for not including HDMI at the first launch??? They included it later when HDMI latched on so your point is clearly moot here.

Sony's biggest hurdle was their everlasting greed to include blu-ray when clearly there was a shortage of blu-ray diodes to begin with. With online services and content delivery getting bigger each day why did'nt Sony see that coming?


By quiksilvr on 7/11/2010 12:55:09 AM , Rating: 2
HDMI products started shipping in late 2003. Over 850 consumer electronics and PC companies have adopted the HDMI specification (HDMI Adopters). In Europe, either DVI-HDCP or HDMI is included in the HD ready in-store labelling specification for TV sets for HDTV, formulated by EICTA with SES Astra in 2005. HDMI began to appear on consumer HDTV camcorders and digital still cameras in 2006. Shipments of HDMI were expected to exceed that of DVI in 2008, driven primarily by the consumer electronics market.

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about.


By Hiawa23 on 7/7/2010 2:31:54 PM , Rating: 2
Correction, Sony bashed and continues to bash Microsoft for charging people to PLAY ONLINE. Playstation Plus is NOT required to play games online. You can still play online without paying a fee.

not really a correction, that was not my point, but okay.


By Hiawa23 on 7/7/2010 2:37:59 PM , Rating: 2
they lost billions and can't afford to sell their slim 360 for anything under $299, even though it cost them well under that price to make it.

not sure where you got this info, but please share. On second thought, meh, it's not for me to say who made the biggest blunders, all I do is enjoy the games. I enjoy the PS3 for it's exclusives, Single player games, & bluray, the 360, I enjoy all multiplatform & online, the Wii, I enjoy spending time with my daughter & her family oriented fun games. Win win as far as I am concerned.


By jvillaro on 7/7/2010 11:05:02 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Of all the mistakes that all consoles made, in my opinion, Sony made the least. I prefer the exclusives on the PS3, I prefer the hardware, and I prefer the long term prices. I don't have to buy a charge pack for my controller, I can upgrade the HDD, I can use any Bluetooth headset and I can play Blu ray.


It sad that every PS3 fanboy always say something like that and despite all this... people still prefer the XBOX 360, RROD included. That has to mean something :)


"Spreading the rumors, it's very easy because the people who write about Apple want that story, and you can claim its credible because you spoke to someone at Apple." -- Investment guru Jim Cramer

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