Ever wonder how well Xbox Live is doing for Microsoft? According to Bloomberg, their online gaming service likely broke the $1 billion revenue mark for the first time in the year that just ended.
Actually, estimates say that they made $1.2 billion last year, even beating out analysts' estimates. A Goldman Sachs analyst says that their sales for the service were up from $800 million, from the year before. Sales of movie and TV show downloads topped the subscription earnings for the first time.
Now I'm sure you see why Sony wants to do paid subscriptions.
As for Microsoft, it must feel good to be the only game in the business.
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site
Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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Contest:
11:20 AM on 07.07.2010
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Damn you Microsoft. If your online service wasn't so damn sexy.
That's what happens when you make a decent product.
Is there an appreciable difference in online multiplayer, or is the difference more in the bells and whistles?
Good job supporting this :)
Pretty much just cross game chat now a days.
Basic features are essentially the same. However, XBL has more features. Some people don't find those features particularly attractive, which leads to a lot of contention about XBL being worth the pricetag.
@puddleglum: I own both HD consoles and I can honestly say the entire experience is more robust on XBL. Sure, PSN is free, so its got that going for it but the little things that Microsoft does add up and that is why a majority of people don't have a problem paying for it.
I spend time on both, but it's like 90% Live and 9% PSN (with 1% for my Wii...).
Agreed. Some people complain about having to pay but I don't mind it at all. I'm satisfied with the experience and I can usually find it at around $35 on Amazon which is a good deal.
PSN is ok, but it's like going to a steakhouse and ordering seafood. If online multiplayer is your thing, just go with the beef (Xbox Live).
Owning both let me say this. PSN is free. That's pretty much it. I love the PS3 but there's just so many different options on LIVE's end that make It worth it.
Examples. It's alot easier to Party Up with friends. This automatically guarantees (mostly) you'll be playing with the people you want. Over on PSN you literally have to wait for them to enter your lobby.
Also alot of Xbox games offer the option of Friends only, so along with the Party Option you have the option of playing with Randoms or Friends AND have the option of only hearing friends on the mic.
It really cuts out all the annoying 13 year old
assholes and random douches, something that's hard to do over on the PSN.
And that's not even mentioning the robust XBLA and cool shit like custom soundtracks in games etc.
As far as ms is concerned online play is an extra that people can pay for or not have.
Psn is like going to a steakhouse and having steak.
Xbl is like going to a steak house and being charged for ketchup.
Oh wait, Sony didn't have one? Awwww, they could have made millions!
Until then? XBox Live is winning teh Konsole Warz.
@ Vanor, revenue =/= profit
Rammstein - "Until then? XBox Live is winning teh Konsole Warz."
"but because it offers a better overall experience than the alternatives(Wii, PS3 and even PC) I don't really *mind* paying for it."
Is this a contest to see who can come up with the shittiest comment?
And really? a "better experience" then a PC? What does that even mean? I'll tell ya.. it means absolutely nothing. It's pulled from the same dark and dank crevice you pulled out the idea of somebody 'winning' some fictional console war.
So my point stands, providing you have internet, every single ps3 owner in the world can game online.
I really don't see your point.
In fact live is like buying a full steak (game) then needing an extra subscription to get half of it, so yeah live is like getting half a steak and having to pay an extra fee on top of the price of the steak to get the other half.
Thank you, my friend, for being the voice of reason!
He said it best.
Congrats to MS, I wish LIVE was my idea.
Go cry elsewhere.
I'm not crying friend, I'm laughing. I don't pay for, pretty much cross game chat.
That's considerably lower then I imagined it would be. By the numbers only 50% of Xbox console owners pay for gold, and play online.
Still a lot of money for MS regardless.
Yeah, I can pay 30 bucks to access a 60 minute demo of inFamous and play a handful of throwaway games that would be cheaper to buy and own instead of being tethered to a subscription. Oh, and a free theme that goes away if I quit.
XBL has more, maybe not to everyone's tastes, but it does. XBL also has a much more streamlined experience, not to mention a legitimate community aspect where things actually happen. XBL has something new practically every day, somewhere. As opposed to PSN where I log on every Thursday to find absolutely nothing.
Even PSN's messaging system sucks. I don't bother messaging PS3 friends because it's guaranteed they won't ever realize I actually sent them a message in the first place. Let's not even get into the fact that a PSN outage means you can't play certain games, or the fact that many PS3 games have noticably more lag than 360 counterparts.
Or should I bring up all the random PSN errors that constantly kick me offline while my 360 and PC's never seem to be affected.
Looks like crying to me.
You mad.
Mad because a company you hate has made some money. Money that hasn't gone into your Gods pockets.
Go make yourself a herbal tea and remind yourself that this has zero impact on your real life. Very few people actually give 2 fucks about your opinion because we all know (and you've admitted it yourself) that you come here to argue and piss people off.
This was a great Fanboy Wednesday, keep it up frontpage.
Thanks man, both services can be fun
What?
X360= Sex: Sure you have to pay for it, but the features and extra people make it worthwhile.
The steakhouse analogy isn't all that true. Observe:
XBL: Going to a steakhouse and paying for a steak that's cooked the way you like, with extras costing, well, extra.
PSN: Going to a steakhouse, having to suffer through slow service, not getting the steak cooked right, and ketchup is the only extra you have available to you. Unless, of course, you feel like shelling out a monthly subscription for free bread, salad, drinks and other accoutrements, and the moment you stop wanting to pay for them, they take all of it and place it just outside of reach, leaving you with nothing more than a steak that isn't quite done right. Oh, and getting friends to sit at the same table as you when they want something different than you is impossible.
There. Fixed that up nicely.
It basically boils down to "Mines better then yours because I pay, there's lots of features you don't have that make it better, but all I can name is cross game chat."
Or people trying to say "Paying $50 for teh online play is for herp da derpz! All you are stoopid headz, my free service is teh winnarz. I don't need to give a reason why, it's just free!"
This thread is making a long day at work go by faster. :)
/popcorn
I think this is talking about money from xbox live alone.
I think I got that idea from the header at the top of this story.
Take a quick look for me will you? Just to make sure I'm not making things up.
Over on Xbox sending a random gamer you played a fun game with usually doesn't result in a reciprocated friend addition. For all the awesome features like Partying Up which is awesome, it also provides for less random friends and less game communities.
Also , give gamers the option to VTK in almost every game and they will
abuse the fuck out of it. In short, PS3's community is way more open because it has to be.
You are what all Xbox fanboys aspire to be.
"Friar estimates Xbox Live has gross margins, the percentage of sales remaining after deducting production costs, of about 65 percent."