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MS Expects Half of All 360 Owners To Use Live

Posted by Zonk on from the meet-new-people-and-swear-at-them dept.

Gamespot is reporting that Xbox chief officer Robbie Bach expects half of all Xbox 360 owners to use the Live service. From the article: "Bach confirmed that currently, only 10 percent of Xbox owners--some 2 million users--subscribe to Xbox Live. With the addition of the free 'Silver' version of Xbox Live, Bach believes that about 50 percent of the console's owners will go online via the 360. However, they will still have to pay to play games online via the new Xbox Live Gold."

6 of 49 comments (clear)

  1. Incentive by bclark · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What can you do with Xbox Live Silver? Download more content? I don't really understand what the incentive is for companies to release free downloadable content. I mean, they've already got your money. Seems like the smart thing to do would be to save any new content you create and release an updated or director's cut version later, or adopt the EA model and if the game is successful, just start releasing it every year with very small changes. Paid downloadable content makes sense, at least, but I don't see how big a part of the 360 strategy that is. The important number for Microsoft should be how many more people can they get to pay for Xbox Gold, especially if the price is going up compared to current Xbox Live rates.

    1. Re:Incentive by dootbran · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I think silver being added in an effort to increase the sales of payed DLC. Not only does it let you reach a wider audience by not requiring them to pay a subscription first but it also separates the Live payment from the DLC value in the users mind.

      At them moment a lot of users probably feel like developers are double dipping by charging for DLC. Now they are being more explicit, multiplayer is $50/year while DLC and friends lists are free. Now even though I pay my $50/year, I don't see that DLC as being part of what I'm paying for and I don't feel like I already payed for that PGR3 PDLC ($5) when I payed for my live subscription.

      I guess if you look at it like that they are raising the price. You are getting fewer additional services for the same price.

    2. Re:Incentive by Delphiki · · Score: 2, Interesting

      One thing that I'm looking forward to doing with Xbox Live that you can do with Silver is chat with friends via text or voice, even if you're both playing offline, single player games. It's not a big enough feature to sell a lot of systems, but I think I'm definitely looking forward to it.

      --

      Feel free to mod me "-1 - Angry Jerk".

  2. Just One More Feature And I Would Sign Up.... by BRock97 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You know, how hard is it to add keyboard and mouse support to the 360? Come on, seriously. Sadly, I am a gamer that was raised on the keyboard and mouse for my first person shooters and until I can have that on my console, I won't jump ship. Everything else is finally there, IMHO. Broadband connections, hi-res display via HDTV, most of the things that the PC was able to hold over the head of the console game systems. Just not this last thing.

    Sadly, though, I can see why they are doing it. I firmly believe that a user with a keyboard and mouse will have an unfair advantage over the controller user with the auto-aiming. And it isn't like it would be hard for Microsoft to do something about it. How about different lounges in the games based on what you were using to control the game? Seriously, you let me use a mouse/keyboard combo, and I will sign up for your Live service.

    --

    Bryan R.
    The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, or $12.50 as seen on eBay.....
    1. Re:Just One More Feature And I Would Sign Up.... by hollismb · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Sadly, though, I can see why they are doing it. I firmly believe that a user with a keyboard and mouse will have an unfair advantage over the controller user with the auto-aiming. And it isn't like it would be hard for Microsoft to do something about it. How about different lounges in the games based on what you were using to control the game? Seriously, you let me use a mouse/keyboard combo, and I will sign up for your Live service.

      You're right about that, because it's been done before with Quake 3 on the Dreamcast. I don't recall completely whether it was that you could use a KB/M on the Dreamcast (which you could), or whether PC players could gt in the mix as well, but the end result was simple: if you used a controller, you got TOTALLY OWNED. There simply wasn't even a button combination that would even allow you to move, zoom, and shoot at the same time that was even close to workable on the controller, which thankfully, the dual analog sticks on the PS2 and Xbox controllers have taken care of. But back then, the concept of a headshot while moving just plain didn't work.

      That being said, your idea isn't so bad. Determine which people are using a KB/M, and don't let them play with the controller folks. Don't even make it an option, because aside from maybe Halo 2 or Ghost Recon, both of which move fairly slowly and have some sort of sticky auto-aim, the mouse folks would rock the controller folks' world. If that ever happens where these two groups can play together again on a console, I guarantee you I won't even consider buying that game. Some of us like sitting back on the couch, feet up, with a controller in hand, as opposed to messing around with a keyboard and mouse, which would require all sorts of complication, some sort of lap contraption, or sitting at a desk. That's what PCs are for, and why I'd rather not play games on one.

  3. Re:Not too outlandish... by Gogo0 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Wait until MS pushes a firmware patch or something over Live and claim the next day that over 90% of owners "use" Live.
    Though to be fair, it would be retarded to not spin that for marketing.