Xbox Live reaches 2 million members

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20 Jul 2005, 10:20 PM
Melf

Xbox Live reaches 2 million members

From Gamestop:

Quote:

Just over a year ago, Microsoft proudly announced that its broadband online gaming service for the Xbox, Xbox Live, had reached the one-million subscriber mark in under two years. Today, the company announced that Xbox Live has reached another milestone: 2 million subscribers. The second million subscribers came in at an even faster pace, at little more than just a year's time, which is the equivalent of adding one Xbox Live subscriber every 30 seconds.

Xbox Live is currently the most successful console-based online gaming service, providing gamers easy access to online multiplayer gaming sessions, real-time voice chat, and instant messaging. An explosion of more than 200 Xbox Live-enabled games, including current Live top dogs Halo 2 and Forza Motorsport, has led the charge.

Microsoft expects the numbers to increase with the launch of the Xbox 360 this holiday season. Each console will come with a free basic Xbox Live service, dubbed "silver," which can be upgraded to "gold" level for a fee. The silver level will have limited features, such as the ability to create a digital identity, use voice chat with other gamers, and access the service's marketplace feature. The gold level will upgrade the service to allow online gaming and video messaging.

Not bad for a year's work.
20 Jul 2005, 10:30 PM
Yoshi

That's pretty impressive, though still a very small percentage of the overall gaming populace. It will be interesting to see if XBL actually has an impact on the next generation. I doubt many, if any, people bought Xbox units because of Live.
20 Jul 2005, 10:38 PM
Error

I thought for sure Yoshi would mention how WoW did it 5 times faster or something
20 Jul 2005, 10:48 PM
Jeremy

Give him time, and two million is simply fantastic.
20 Jul 2005, 11:08 PM
Thief Silver

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

That's pretty impressive, though still a very small percentage of the overall gaming populace. It will be interesting to see if XBL actually has an impact on the next generation. I doubt many, if any, people bought Xbox units because of Live.

... I did.
20 Jul 2005, 11:35 PM
Jeremy

I can see many college students buying an Xbox for Live as well.
20 Jul 2005, 11:42 PM
EvilMog

The only thing stopping bigger gains than this is availablilty and cost of broadband.

Oh and I think its great they have 2 million subscribers now. More variety in games. Anyone remember online gaming on the DC? I remember playing games with less than 100 people online at a time and thinking that was a lot.
21 Jul 2005, 12:20 AM
ChaoofNee

I wonder how many of those are 2 month trial accounts in limbo.
21 Jul 2005, 02:03 AM
Rumpy

Quote:

Originally Posted by Error

I thought for sure Yoshi would mention how WoW did it 5 times faster or something

Speaking of which, Blizzard just announced that subs have hit 3.5 million. The Chinese have gone WoW crazy and are up to over a million already (launched in the US in Nov 2004 and China was like 6 months ago).

Using 15 bucks a month as a basis for everyone, that's $52.5 million a month. That's insane.
21 Jul 2005, 02:09 AM
mollipen

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

That's pretty impressive, though still a very small percentage of the overall gaming populace. It will be interesting to see if XBL actually has an impact on the next generation. I doubt many, if any, people bought Xbox units because of Live.

I never, ever would have purchased an Xbox if it wasn't for XBL. I think I own one single-player Xbox game. Pretty much everything I play on it I play online with friends or other people, and never touch the single player side of the game.
21 Jul 2005, 03:36 AM
Master

I bought an Xbox for live.

Though I did work for Microsoft and launch the service. 2 million subs brings a wee tear to my eye...
21 Jul 2005, 03:43 AM
Diff-chan

0->2 million is pretty damn good. Remember, back in 2002, there was no online gaming for consoles. It was a brand new thing.*

Now its accepted and, in fact, demanded in console games. Project Gotham 2 did amazing stuff with single-player/multi-player convergence that not even PC games have tried. To be real, the interfaces used in PC online games have evolved a LOT in the past few years, Im sure Live's amazing interface has a lot to do with it.

As for World of Warcraft getting to 3.5 million in 9 months... its just a freak show. Unbelievable, unheard of. EverQuest used to be the big boy in the MMO world, with 400,000 subscribers.

*yes, I know there was Xband, Netlink, SegaNet. But all those were pitiful, stupid failures and are worthless.
21 Jul 2005, 03:46 AM
Jeremy

That's a wonderful bit of revisionist history you've got there, diff.
21 Jul 2005, 03:50 AM
Diff-chan

SegaNet was shit. Horrible. Worst online gaming service ever. And I used both MPlayer and TEN. There was fucking lag in Chu Chu Rocket. CHU CHU ROCKET. Worse than Netlink, which Sega had at least the good sense to not make a linchpin of the Saturn strategy.

As for Xband, well there's a reason why nobody bothered with online for so long after it died. It was shit. Yea, Im sure a few of the dorks on here will make posts now talking about how much fun they had with it, but really - there was what, 100 people using the service? It was horse shit.

The fact is, all of these online gaming attempts were failures. Xbox Live has come along, established a market, established a bare minimum of what we should expect in online gaming, established a great interface, and showed what type of experiences are possible. Its really moved console online forward, now we just need more game designs like PGR2 and Splinter Cell to match it.
21 Jul 2005, 03:59 AM
Master

For as bad as Chu Chu Rocket was (bad netcode), Phantasy Star Online over Broadband was fantastic. FANTASTIC. Hell, it was pretty good over Dialup.
21 Jul 2005, 04:03 AM
Diff-chan

Yea, with the what, 6 broadband adapters Sega actually released to stores?

So you manage to track one down, and you get to play a game less interesting, less varied, and less fun than the first Diablo.

Wow, go Sega.
21 Jul 2005, 04:05 AM
Master

I'm just saying the netcode was solid. I'm certainly not comparing it to Diablo.
21 Jul 2005, 04:47 AM
MechDeus

Quote:

Originally Posted by Master

Hell, it was pretty good over Dialup.

I used dialup and it worked pretty damn well, I certainly had no complaints about it.
21 Jul 2005, 05:06 AM
Omni

diff is right, no online service has made an impact on the gaming industry till Live. Notice how no one talks about PS2 online? Cuz it's not worth talking about...
21 Jul 2005, 05:46 AM
MarsKitten

Diff is right, and this is speaking as someone who's played on xband (it sucked), bba for dreamcast (not enough games), xbox is the first one to do console online right, PSP might be the second, but I wouldn't bet on it.
21 Jul 2005, 05:55 AM
Revoltor

I've never heard a bad word against Xband till now. Maybe you guys sucked at Weaponlord?
21 Jul 2005, 08:13 AM
MarsKitten

xband sucked for the following reasons. Extremely limited support: weaponlord and SSF2. Shitty interface, lack of nationwide matchmaking.
21 Jul 2005, 08:20 AM
Fe 26

Quote:

Originally Posted by diffusionx

SegaNet was shit. Horrible. Worst online gaming service ever. And I used both MPlayer and TEN. There was fucking lag in Chu Chu Rocket. CHU CHU ROCKET. Worse than Netlink, which Sega had at least the good sense to not make a linchpin of the Saturn strategy.

to be fair I don't really think the netlink was pushed heavily for online gaming. It was pushed just as much if not more for web browsing to those who can't afford a computer.
21 Jul 2005, 08:54 AM
AaronChance

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChaoofNee

I wonder how many of those are 2 month trial accounts in limbo.

Mine is.
21 Jul 2005, 09:31 AM
Wildkat

Quote:

Originally Posted by Master

For as bad as Chu Chu Rocket was (bad netcode), Phantasy Star Online over Broadband was fantastic. FANTASTIC. Hell, it was pretty good over Dialup.

Quake III was very good on the DC as well. Even over dialup..

The lag in Chu-chu rocket was intentional becuase some moron at sega though it would make things more fair....

The netlink worked very well, but it wasnt internet gaming, it was direct dial. As well as the xband.

You also have to respect the XBand, these guys added modem support to games that didn't even have it to begin with, they had to write patches to each game they supported.
21 Jul 2005, 10:38 AM
mollipen

Give all the respect to XBL that it deserves, but yeah, don't also short the Dreamcast out its due. It was what really started the "home consoles online" idea - it was just that XBL came along and made it a total package.
21 Jul 2005, 10:52 AM
dave is ok

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarsKitten

xband sucked for the following reasons. Extremely limited support: weaponlord and SSF2. Shitty interface, lack of nationwide matchmaking.

Xband has nationwide matchmaking, but it was like 200 dollars a month or something
21 Jul 2005, 11:35 AM
Melf

Quote:

Originally Posted by diffusionx

SegaNet was shit. Horrible. Worst online gaming service ever. And I used both MPlayer and TEN. There was fucking lag in Chu Chu Rocket. CHU CHU ROCKET. Worse than Netlink, which Sega had at least the good sense to not make a linchpin of the Saturn strategy.

Chu Chu Rocket was the first online DC game, and came out before the SegaNet service was up and running. Later games, like PSO, played wonderfully, with little or no lag.

Quote:

The fact is, all of these online gaming attempts were failures. Xbox Live has come along, established a market, established a bare minimum of what we should expect in online gaming, established a great interface, and showed what type of experiences are possible. Its really moved console online forward, now we just need more game designs like PGR2 and Splinter Cell to match it.

If it weren't for these "failures," you wouldn't even have Xbox Live. ;)
21 Jul 2005, 12:00 PM
EMAGDNIM

I didnt buy my X Box for Live, but I jumped on when a lot of good (see fighting and racing games) titles where live enabled...
21 Jul 2005, 01:29 PM
avatar

To be fair to SegaNet MS learnmed every possible mistake they could make from Sega.

The sevice was bad, but I would still call them pioneers in on-line gaming.
21 Jul 2005, 01:36 PM
Jeremy

It's hard not to, since they offered stuff with their service, like web browsing, that still haven't been replicated. Didn't they even launch the DreamCall service later in the system's life? The service (and the system) were years ahead of its time. Sega really shot for the fences, and it succeeded, only not for them, as it gave MS the gold standard to surpass, and they did.

Many here seem to discredit Sega when it isn't called for, so I'm shocked that diff would just shit on their service. As a sidenote, it's kind of sad that the SNES has more online games than the GC.
21 Jul 2005, 02:14 PM
Yoshi

Quote:

Originally Posted by Error

I thought for sure Yoshi would mention how WoW did it 5 times faster or something

Nah. I don't have any reverence for WoW. It is a lot of fun because we have everyone on Ventrilo, and we have a large group that all "knows" each other. I don't believe the game itself is light years beyond the other MMOs out there.
21 Jul 2005, 02:17 PM
Rumpy

Quote:

Originally Posted by dave is ok

Xband has nationwide matchmaking, but it was like 200 dollars a month or something

At first it was just "that's a long distance call! Enjoy your next phone bill!" and then they hooked up with AT&T for Nationwide. It was like 25 bucks a month, I think. It was a hell of a lot better than a long distance charge that's for sure.

And fuck anyone that says otherwise, Xband kicked ass.
21 Jul 2005, 02:22 PM
Cowdisease

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rumpy

And fuck anyone that says otherwise, Xband kicked ass.

Xband Mario Kart: Pretty good.

Xband Super Street Fighter 2: Not so good.
21 Jul 2005, 03:46 PM
Rumpy

NHL (whatever year) was a blast, MK2 was the shit, Madden was really popular. I barely even remember WeaponLord on the service. I'm not even sure if it made it all the way through testing. I think NBA Jam was on there too.
21 Jul 2005, 03:54 PM
Master

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

Nah. I don't have any reverence for WoW. It is a lot of fun because we have everyone on Ventrilo, and we have a large group that all "knows" each other. I don't believe the game itself is light years beyond the other MMOs out there.

It is billions of lightyears ahead of any MMO in existance in terms of how pick-up-and-play friendly it is. No MMO has ever been so welcoming to noobs, that is why it is shattering sales records.

You also don't need a killer system to play it, thus making the potential userbase worldwide that much larger. Hell, I can play it on my laptop.

Though, that is a completely different convo...
21 Jul 2005, 04:02 PM
Diff-chan

You really dont sell 9 times more than your next closest competitor without doing something very right and very different. I mean, this game shows just how massive the potential audience is for online gaming and what a poor job SOE and others were doing to tap that potential.

Im also not sure why Yoshi doesnt believe WOW is so far ahead of other MMORPGs - he plays them a lot more than me, but even I can see what makes the game different from others (main point, its fun kthx).
21 Jul 2005, 10:57 PM
Yoshi

Quote:

Originally Posted by Master

It is billions of lightyears ahead of any MMO in existance in terms of how pick-up-and-play friendly it is. No MMO has ever been so welcoming to noobs, that is why it is shattering sales records.

I think that's one of its problems, obviously not from a commercial standpoint, but from a player longevity standpoint. I just question whether there is enough to keep a power leveler-type busy for even one year.

Quote:

Originally Posted by diffusionx

Im also not sure why Yoshi doesnt believe WOW is so far ahead of other MMORPGs - he plays them a lot more than me, but even I can see what makes the game different from others (main point, its fun kthx).

We have vastly different play styles. I whipped WoW's ass in my first tour of duty. Since we didn't have ventrilo back then, the community aspect was lacking. There are several other MMOs, some SOE-made, that have significantly more content and depth for someone who can power level.
21 Jul 2005, 11:01 PM
VIDEODROME

For some reason this makes me imagine 2 million Mike Teevees. Kind of scary.
21 Jul 2005, 11:02 PM
Diff-chan

Quote:

We have vastly different play styles. I whipped WoW's ass in my first tour of duty. Since we didn't have ventrilo back then, the community aspect was lacking. There are several other MMOs, some SOE-made, that have significantly more content and depth for someone who can power level.

You mean, for someone who can grind? I know about the grind, I played UO, and EQ, and SWG. Sure, one could argue a quest to kill 12 mottled boars is a grind, but you got a big juicy 3000XP and some gold at the end. WOW has no grind, and thats what makes it so popular.

Now, there was one grindy quest Ive had so far, it was in Desolace, it was the one where I had to kill enough centaur to make the opposing clan like me. I think I even said in guild chat at that time, "this makes me realize why I stopped playing EQ and SWG". Now... WOW's retention rate might be slightly worse than the others, because it is possible to "quickly" get through all the content and like all early MMOs, end game content is on the thin side, but this is a small price to pay for a game so accessible and so much more fun than the status quo.

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