Microsoft Probably Made $1 Billion from Xbox Live

[ulysses35]

STEAM = pants... pisses me off having new PC games that use STEAM that wants to run in the background all the time.

 

[azconnie]

I like XBL, but both me and my brother use the Xbox, and I refuse to pay per head. I'll pay $50 a year to get the machine online, but not $50 for me, and $50 for him. Also, as for paying all this money for these games and services, Combat Arms, 'nuff said.

 

[aethm]

Xbox Live is by FAR the best online experience. Steam could probably compete but it just doesn't have the user base. $5 a month isn't that much and the fee can be reduced to $2-3 if you buy the card when it's on-sale.

 

[aethm]

MMO developers should be perking up their heads. YOU DON'T HAVE TO CHARGE $15 A MONTH to make money.

I pay $15 a month for WOW and that's it. Make a good MMO, charge

 

[Kahless01]

MMO developers dont care to take notice. Blizzard makes nearly 2 billion a year from WoW subscription fees and thats without the dlc. thats assuming 15.99 per person per month for 9 million people. dunno what they charge or how many people play but i think thats fairly close. Guild wars is free to play online and really i enjoyed playing it more than WoW. Less people to play with but still fun.

And i beta tested XBL way the hell back in the day. it was great then and it was great while i had an xbox. havent bought a 360 yet but when i do i will have no problem paying for XBL. and BTW, buy a ps3 with a bluray player, still have to buy a bluray player because the ps3 cant pass bitstreamed multichannel audio. doesnt make a difference with your weak HTIB but with my system it does.

 

[Guest]

50 dollars a year is less than the price of a new first rate game.
And Xbox Live is first rate. Now if you're not interested or have a
Playstation then it's not worth it. But then who cares? Microsoft has a sound product, it runs well, that makes money. That's called business. And that makes the world go round.

 

[jarrodrex]

[citation][nom]Kahless01[/nom]MMO developers dont care to take notice. Blizzard makes nearly 2 billion a year from WoW subscription fees and thats without the dlc. thats assuming 15.99 per person per month for 9 million people. dunno what they charge or how many people play but i think thats fairly close. Guild wars is free to play online and really i enjoyed playing it more than WoW. Less people to play with but still fun. And i beta tested XBL way the hell back in the day. it was great then and it was great while i had an xbox. havent bought a 360 yet but when i do i will have no problem paying for XBL. and BTW, buy a ps3 with a bluray player, still have to buy a bluray player because the ps3 cant pass bitstreamed multichannel audio. doesnt make a difference with your weak HTIB but with my system it does.[/citation]

 

[jarrodrex]

[citation][nom]Kahless01[/nom]MMO developers dont care to take notice. Blizzard makes nearly 2 billion a year from WoW subscription fees and thats without the dlc. thats assuming 15.99 per person per month for 9 million people. dunno what they charge or how many people play but i think thats fairly close. Guild wars is free to play online and really i enjoyed playing it more than WoW. Less people to play with but still fun. And i beta tested XBL way the hell back in the day. it was great then and it was great while i had an xbox. havent bought a 360 yet but when i do i will have no problem paying for XBL. and BTW, buy a ps3 with a bluray player, still have to buy a bluray player because the ps3 cant pass bitstreamed multichannel audio. doesnt make a difference with your weak HTIB but with my system it does.[/citation]
The ps3 slim will pass bitstreamed audio.

 

[michaelahess]

Only idiots pay for multi-player gaming. Of course 98% of our population could be classified as idiots, so it's no wonder they people by the 360 in the first place, and completely expected that they'd also pay the Live fees.

They are also the ones that pay $30+ for internet on their phones....

Stupid people always make things more expensive for the rest of us....sigh

 

[fletcher77]

with that much money being made from xbox live they should have been giving away larger hard drives for free. Larger hard drive = more DLC.

 

[wawa sxm]

if you dont think xbox live is not worth 50bucks then dont get it....i used to only play offline, the pc was for multiplayer...but xbox live change everything for me and now i can't get enough....why is everyone comparing with the pc?? you think you sound smart but its the complete opposite...its two different experiences...if you have friends over, would you put the pc on and play turn by turn or sit on the couch and play together?...and steam is constantly updating its a pain...oh and wow you save 5 to 10 bucks a game...but spend 200-400 updating the pc...i have a pc its great, do manning things with it but gaming less and less......and dont forget anybody can pick up a console game and play....lets c grand ma install a pc game

 

[Conner Macleod]

[citation][nom]aethm[/nom]Xbox Live is by FAR the best online experience. Steam could probably compete but it just doesn't have the user base. $5 a month isn't that much and the fee can be reduced to $2-3 if you buy the card when it's on-sale.[/citation]

Aethm, that's incorrect, steam has 20 million active users while Xbox Live has 17 million. Steam is free and offers tons of free demos, videos, software store, voice/type chat, auto-updates, game protection and the ability to add non-steam games, plus you can log into your account anywhere and play your games on any computer. Xbox Live doesn't even come close, and steam offers all of this for FREE.

http/multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2009/01/06/microsoft-releases-xbox-stats-we-annotate/

http/forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1272825

Xbox Live may be a good service, but you can't (logically) argue that something that cost $50 a year and offers less services with fewer users can possibly be better than something that's free, has more users and services.

 

[ksampanna]

The only thing I pay for is my electricity bill & the internet connection.