4M plus Xbox Live downloads since 360 launch
by Vladimir Cole 
{ Jan 27th 2006 at 12:45PM }
Microsoft corporate Vice President Scott Di Valerio gave a bit more data about the Xbox 360's performance with
regards to Xbox Live. He said, "Since the launch of Xbox 360, Xbox Live members have downloaded over 4 million
pieces of high-definition games, music and movie content from the Xbox Live Marketplace."
Let's break that down a little bit. Because this was a conference call to announce quarterly performance, we're assuming that these downloads were performed by the 1.5 million people who managed to score an Xbox 360 during the period. More accurately, the content was downloaded by the 50% of Xbox 360 owners who have connected to Xbox Live. This means that 750,000 people downloaded 4 million items, or a download rate of 5.33 Xbox Live Marketplace items per connected gamer.
How many items have you downloaded? Are you above or below the average?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Nossy @ Jan 27th 2006 12:53PM
I've downloaded everything from the marketplace, except gamer's pics and picture packs. Downloaded ALL the 720p videos except the 420p. All the Trail Live Arcade games. Got only 2GB left
Gombard @ Jan 27th 2006 12:54PM
I'm well above the norm, when i first started i downloaded most/all demos out there just to fill in the boredom gaps since i couldnt afford many games to start off with.. Plus not to mention the great idea of putting demos into the mix. I think it is very well done, so far i've been very impressed with this.
neks0ne @ Jan 27th 2006 12:56PM
About right for me....5 or so market place items
Here come the fanboys...
OMFGNFW...$%#@ crap Impossible, I Have a DS and in Japan the 360 is banned....aahhrrgg.
Sorry, Im new to joystiq....adjusting
JRock3x8 @ Jan 27th 2006 12:58PM
Way above 5. I have downloaded 8 full demo's, all of the launch arcade demo's (12?) and 4 or 5 movie trailers. The movie trailers in high definition are very nice to look at - they really make the movie come alive.
I suspect there are a few people like me, and then the rest have downloaded virtually nothing.
pr0cs @ Jan 27th 2006 12:59PM
Well above 5.33 items. Hell over 13 arcade games alone not including movie trailers or demos.
DigitalFirefly @ Jan 27th 2006 1:01PM
I've downloaded all of the game demos arcade and xbox, and 2 movie trailers.
H3RP35 @ Jan 27th 2006 1:05PM
I've probably downloaded in the neighborhood of 20 items (games, demos, gamer pics, and trailers). So, I'm helping to bump the numbers a bit...
Matt @ Jan 27th 2006 1:08PM
I've downloaded 3 XBL Arcade games, the Penny Arcade picture pack, 3 movie trailers and one game demo putting me slightly above the average.
I think the interesting thing to see here would be what types of things are being downloaded and the breakdown of paid vs free downloads.
Sense @ Jan 27th 2006 1:13PM
At least 15 things. 8 or 9 XBLA trial games. 5 demos. Movie trailers, game trailers, Red Vs. Blue video.
Marketplace is awesome. I can't wait for an expanded hard drive and more media capabilities. Downloadable complete games and movies? TV? Yes, please.
LunarDuality @ Jan 27th 2006 1:15PM
I (like Nossy) have downloaded almost every video (at 480p), every free theme, most of the demos (don't need ones for games I own or ones I got in OXM), and every trial Arcade Game (purchsed 2 - Wik and GW: RE). I haven't "purchased" any gamerpictures or themes yet but I still have points in my account so I may do that.
I hate having to wait while things download (please give me a dashboard update so that I can play arcade games while it downloads!) but overall I am very pleased with the variety and such.
It's kinda scary though that I can download, try, and then buy a new game for under $20 within about 30 minutes -- and never leave my seat. The future of couch-potato-dom is here.
isuma @ Jan 27th 2006 1:18PM
Keep in mind the only ppl with xbox360s right now are the hardcore gamer crowd (eg ppl who preordered or waited in line over night) ... i suspect that the xbox live and download figures (%) will decrease over time when this (hardcore gamer) market is saturated and xbox360 is more mainstream.
JDH @ Jan 27th 2006 1:19PM
I've downloaded Geometry Wars, Billiards, Robotron 2084, and some themes and gamerpics.
If there were more music, games, and videos available I would increase the amount of downloads.
Can't wait until user created content can be uploaded and downloaded.
Oh, I love the demos and game trailers as downloads too.
This is the xbox 360's killer app.
m3mnoch @ Jan 27th 2006 1:19PM
uh. i'm way the hell above. you can just go look at my gamertag to see the games i've downloaded and played. i'm somewhere in the 30's or 40's if you count gamer pics, holiday stuff, trailers, games, demos, everything.
m3mnoch.
Isurus @ Jan 27th 2006 1:20PM
I'm way above average. Like other here, I have downloaded all of the movies (720p), demos, and about 9 or 10 Arcade games (7 of which I have purchased). The only thing I have steered clear of are the pictures and themes. I couldn't care less about that stuff. The marketplace is addicting though. Props to MS for coming up with such a great (and probably lucrative) online system.
Abhinav Kumar @ Jan 27th 2006 1:22PM
I downloaded about ten free things. You cant beat free, especialy free demos.
el @ Jan 27th 2006 1:27PM
I've gotten about 6 arcade games, 5 demos and 4 trailers.
Cyberclaws @ Jan 27th 2006 1:29PM
I'm way above average too. I downloaded everything but the stuff you have to pay for (cheapassgamer?). Once I viewed it and got tired of whatever I downloaded, I deleted them though so I have plenty of room on my HD yet. Want to keep as much room available as possible.
pixelate @ Jan 27th 2006 1:36PM
i'm probably right at the average... only download trailers i've heard about, demos i have been interested in seeing, etc. i don't just get everything because the 360 will not download in the background (and it seems slow as it is).
the implementation is so much better than anything we've seen before, but 13 GB of usable space on the HD is going to be painful very quickly
airboarder @ Jan 27th 2006 1:46PM
Aren't we forgetting to factor in all the lame users who purchased a core and never had the dough to buy the hard drive but are still connected to live? Seems like that might knock off another 100k maybe.
MumbleyJoe @ Jan 27th 2006 1:47PM
I've purchased Geometry Wars, Marble Blast, Billiards, Wik and a Kameo picture pack. I've downloaded another 10-12 arcade demos, 3 full demos, about 3 trailers, gamerpics and themes, iPod support... lots of stuff. Probably 20-30 items total and spent $40+. It's brought a lot more value to the console than I anticipated.
TrevorNYC @ Jan 27th 2006 1:57PM
I wonder if the numbers are bumped up a bit by the fact that when you 'unlock' a demo, it's another full download. Any gamer who demoed and then purchases will have two downloads for the one game.
My download numbers must be at least 3 times the stated average and I've only had it for two weeks.
They should subtract all of the 360's that are still on ebay.
randomboy @ Jan 27th 2006 2:02PM
The Xbox360 is indeed banned in Japan, I kid you not.
Grindstone @ Jan 27th 2006 2:05PM
I am above the 5.33 average as well. 6 Arcade games, at least one movie trailer @720p and a game demo here and there, but I still have $$ left to burn...
Anyway, XBLive Marketplace is too cool. The more they add, the more doomed I am- working overtime to support my fix. If they ever add full-length movies at 720p, a radio station or some variant of cable TV/tivo, I will be hooked with little reason to let go. The biggest drawback being 13gigs of room...
swoosh bnd @ Jan 27th 2006 2:09PM
I think on my history I have about 40 items there, so I've downloaded well above the average.
Tiremfej @ Jan 27th 2006 2:10PM
I'm like the others, I've DL'ed quite a bit. I can't give an exact figure, but it's up there.
AoE @ Jan 27th 2006 2:19PM
Way WAY above the average. I've bought 10 of the live arcade titles (not including hexic) and downloaded demos of the rest. I've also downloaded every bit of free & purchase content for ridge racer (except for the trailers and demo), most of the HD movie trailers, the penny arcade pics/theme, a handful of other themes, all of the condemend related stuff (except trailers), and 5 demos for retail games.
Dave @ Jan 27th 2006 2:22PM
I've got twelve downloaded items in Xbox Live Arcade alone, two demo'd then purchased.
Mike @ Jan 27th 2006 2:28PM
that 5.3 average is a bunch of BS. It may be acurate, but does not reflect the actual trends of people. The trends are more like thousands of people downloading 30+ items (like me) and thousands of people downloading 0 items.
I download everything thats free on marketplace (720 instead of 480 when theres a choice). Ive done so since launch and kept everything I downloaded. I only have around 2 GB of space left on my hard drive I think. Thats no good. As soon as a mod-chip comes out im getting it and throwing in a 400GB hard drive. Microsoft could of included at least an 80GB Hdd with the 360. Im dissapointed in their money making scheme. Lots of people like Joystiq staff tend to think the small hard drive was used to keep the system cost down, but thats complete BS. they are selling that HDD for $100 and its mearly a standard laptop hard drive with a special connector at the end. 80 GB laptop HDDs dont even cost $100. Microsoft is just killing us with the propriatary hard drive.
SuicideNinja @ Jan 27th 2006 2:54PM
I really have no interest in movie trailers and picture packs, although I did download a couple just to see how they looked.
If there is a 360 game demo, I'm downloading it even if the game doesn't sound fun. I've already been turned on to Fight Night and Full Auto, which I would have never considered before. On the other hand, I know not to purchase PGR3. Brilliant, I think this will benefit over all the market quite well. Gamers will know which games they want, and find games they wouldn't have looked for before.
The only disappoint for me is the lack of daily or even weekly content updates. This will come eventually, but it currently leads me to forget about the marketplace unless I read or hear that something is coming out.
Shamma @ Jan 27th 2006 3:37PM
If it is free I have downloaded it.
Shamma @ Jan 27th 2006 3:38PM
If it is free I have downloaded it.
Andrew Royal @ Jan 27th 2006 4:12PM
I am the Product Planner for Xbox Live including the Marketplace. I'd love to get this group's ideas for Marketplace features they'd like to see. So far I've heard background downloads, bigger HDD, full length feature downloads (movies, music, games), radio service.
Anything else?
TrevorNYC @ Jan 27th 2006 5:07PM
I'm glad that someone from Microsoft is looking on the frontline for info. One thing that I would like added to the Marketplace is the ability to automate the downloads. Let's say that you can setup a watchlist such as "All free downloads for Project Gotham" or "All 720p movie trailers". Whenever the xbox sees something that fits the criteria of your watchlist it downloads it in the background and then have the little message thingie popup when it's done to inform you that you have a new download. Then have a folder where downloads are to show just the automatically downloaded content. So basically I'm asking for an RSS feed type of application for the downloads. I'm sure that I will have other ideas for Live. Andrew, is there any other place that you monitor for feedback or XBOX live suggestions.
Angel of Death @ Jan 27th 2006 5:15PM
For the question:
I've downloaded all of the XBLA demos, and purchased about four (Wik, Zuma, Mutant Storm, GeoWars). I've downloaded about 4 game demos (Madden, Condemned, FightNight 3, NBA Live 06). Downloaded about 8 trailers (all 720p).
For the Product Manager guy, how about queued downloads (tag now, DL at night), and BUY THE DANM XBMC! The 360 media player is vastly inferior in all ways to XBMC, which will stream ANY video type, has much better slideshow options, way more visualizations, and other cool features (weather reports, etc). It is WAY dumb that the 360 player doesn't support any MP4 formats, like DivX and XVid!
Lastly, how about a video re-encoder? Put those CPUs to good use! Recomp video/TV for my PSP!
AoD
Bob Johnson @ Jan 27th 2006 5:26PM
to Andrew Royal:
If you indeed work for Microsoft I have some ideas.
#1 - Homebrew. MSFT could develop a reduced capabilities SDK for homebrew developers to design games. They would be submitted to MSFT for review and distributed on Live for a paltry fee like a dollar - giving half to the software writer. MSFT could create a few more independant millionaires and at the same time have an excuse to make software available that would not otherwise be. This would complicate the business model for Microsoft but would throw a huge bone to the "elites" that generaly decide the fate of a console and would give gamers an endless library of niche games that are important for penetrating certain markets.
My first idea was too long, will provide more later.
Bob Johnson @ Jan 27th 2006 5:35PM
another idea for live marketplace.
#2 Gambling with points. Points are purchased with real currency but cannot be converted back for legal and moral reasons. An online game that allows adult users to gamble for marketplace points would a blast. Something like a Texas Hold em table with real opponents. The game and game play are free to the participants with 100% payback - Microsoft benefits by selling the points and catering to an adult interest.
Andrew Royal @ Jan 27th 2006 5:36PM
Won't say where else I troll, but we do care what our core users have to say.
Try to keep the ideas to marketplace per the topic. I have no influence on SDK development, ferinstance.
Bob Johnson @ Jan 27th 2006 5:41PM
#3 Pointed advertising. The little ad spot that tells about downloads advertises things that I have already purchased or downloaded. You have loads of information about each person that is on live and the ads could be detailed to not only be intelligent (not advertise something the user has already bought) but could also be tailored to their purchasing style.
Bob Johnson @ Jan 27th 2006 5:45PM
#2 got lost so here goes again.
Gambling area for adults to gamble with points - possibly Texas Hold em or anything that puts users together to gamble. The points are purchased just as they are now but can't be refunded for obvious reasons.
Bob Johnson @ Jan 27th 2006 5:53PM
#4 emulators (virtual console) wink.
If you had quality emulators and access over live to legal and endorsed Roms I think you would sell them like mad. Watch how popular the Street Fighter arcade download becomes for an indicator.
Adam Carrico @ Jan 27th 2006 6:04PM
I have every demo except Full Auto (got in OXM) and Madden. I also have the trial (some fulls) for every arcade game except the hardwood games and billiards. I have also downloaded Red Vs. Blue - The full Circle and some Robot game trailer (forgot name) Got a few themes and gamerpics too. The iPod compatibility, and itf it counts backwards compatibility. Overall I have less than a gig left, but I did install FFXI as well, so I am running out fast. We really need biger hard drives.
bandit @ Jan 27th 2006 6:36PM
Many of the things people have mentioned such as background downloads are imperative. I'd like to see forums and chat rooms as well. That maybe related to current events in consumer electronics. In addition, please add the functionality of MSN TV as a download to the 360. Last but not least, MS has been attempting to corner the subscription based market for sometime now. I have subscribed to both yahoo games on demand and gametap, and anticipated the release of the phantom console for years. A similar model to these services would absolutely force I and millions of other users to never leave the house again. My personal recommendation, MS has a large catalog of BC games for the orignal xbox plus PC games from MS game studios. Releasing this games with unlimited access for a low month fee of $15-20, ($30 is tolerable if it eventually includes first generation 360 games) the service must also include an xbox live gold account built in. This gives casual gamers the opportunity to experiment with an otherwise expensive hobby and has the potential truely grow the market. Basically if I could gain unlimited access to even half the games of the 360 compatibility list for $15month, $180year, I would be hard pressed to spend my money on any other console. In addition, the fact that I have gametap and yahoo on demand, DO NOT affect my normal retail game purchases.
thomas_h @ Jan 27th 2006 8:33PM
i've downloaded almost all the live arcade trial games, bought 3 of them, downloaded 2 movie trailers, and the full auto and the fight night 3 demo.. gonna dl the condemned demo tomorrow.
joe @ Jan 27th 2006 9:23PM
I relly doubt this info. is right. I'm not even a hardcore gamer but I've download a littl bit above that average, probably around 8-11.
Andy @ Jan 27th 2006 11:16PM
To Andrew Royal:
I think the subscription model mentioned above is a great idea, particularly for older games that sell poorly.
TV Shows (iTunes style) and perhaps even music and movies would be a good idea as well. Microsoft definitely already has the tech to support something like that.
bandit @ Jan 28th 2006 12:15AM
one more addition, an ad supported version of xbox gold, and ad supported versions of arcade games with the option to buy, what i mean is offer Street fighter for $15 dollars with an ad supported version which shows 10,20, or 30 second commercials between matches. Then use that same model for episodic content, such as the upcoming SIN series, which could use a combination of ingame and out of game ads to offset to price for those WHO CHOOSE not to pay the premium price.
Sloopydrew @ Jan 28th 2006 4:04AM
I downloaded 3 or 4 movie trailers. 2 XBOX Live Arcade games (Geometry Wars and Gauntlet) and Kameo and PGR demos. I loved Geometry Wars. Thought Gauntlet was okay, but the arcade version actually looked better way back in 1984. Hated Kameo and thought PGR was okay, but I'm not big into racing games. As far as games I owned, I hated PDZ. I thought Quake 4 was okay, but the slowdown killed it, and I really liked Condemned: Criminal Origins, although it was disappointing that it only took 10 hours to beat.
Then my 360 broke, so nothing else has been downloaded or played.
Sloopydrew's XBOX 360 January 7th, 2006 - January 26th, 2006. Aged 19 days. XBOX Live Arcade Gauntlet and Geometry Wars: $10.00. 3 mediocre non-Arcade games: $180.00. XBOX Live Gold subscription: $50.00. A broken 360? Worthless.
Don Jose @ Jan 28th 2006 5:32AM
bandit, if I pay $50 for some old-ass arcade game and then have to watch ads while I'm playing it, I'll be pissed. $5 is totally reasonable and totally profitable. If I want ads, I'll turn on my TV at any hour of the day. I bought the 360 to make my TV worth owning again, not to be bombarded by a bunch of crap that I could easily seek out on my own if I were at all interested.
kizza @ Jan 28th 2006 8:54AM
Yes but you have to take into account all the double & triple ups where peoples systems overheated.... shut down..... had to be sent back...... and they finally received another refurbished faulty console with nothing on the hard drive, so they had to re-download..
bandit @ Jan 28th 2006 11:03AM
Don Jose, either I'm not explaining this well, or you are missing the point. In ALL other forms of media there are three price points. The free ad supported version, i.e. broadcast TV and public radio. The subscription or purchasible version, subscription cable/ music stores, and cd/dvds. And finally the performance version, i.e. concerts and theaters. For GAMING to become a TRUELY mainstream ART form there MUST be an introductory ad supported version BEFORE the subscription and purchasible content. The video game industry did it backwards. Remeber when they said TV and radio would never catch on? The DEFINITELY wouldnt have if you had to PURCHASE all the content for it in order to enjoy it. Think about it. The purchasible content and subscriptions didnt appear until YEARS after the original media gained strength through ad supported free content. Gaming is no different and thats why the majority STILL looks at it as a waste of money. So help you see the light. Older games should be available via a subscription fee similar to yahoo games on demand or gametap (if you dont know what they are PLEASE look them up, they are what will drive this industry mainstream) That model can actually be modified to be ad-supported solely in essense giving you access to huge libraries of games for nothing, in the same way radio and tv give you access to wide ranges of entertainment for nothing. WITH THE OPTION to select a subscription plan, with better content less or no commercials. WHICH DOES NOT AFFECT PURCHASES as many people STILL have a radio/xm satelitte/ itunes/ cds combination and many have a broadcast tv/ cable tv/ DVD collection. So as you can PLAINLY see from other similar media and entertainment industries, the TIERED distribution model works, and works well all with in the same home.