Xbox Live attach rate has grown 50 percent, from Xbox to Xbox 360; Live Anywhere the next step

by James Ransom-Wiley { Jul 13th 2006 at 2:55PM }

Speaking at the Develop Conference in Brighton, England, Jeff Sullivan, a developer relations managers for Microsoft's Games Technology Group, reported that the attach rate for Xbox Live amongst Xbox 360 users is now up to 60%. By comparison, the original Xbox gained a mere 10% attach rate. Of course, the ability to create a gamertag out of the box, and thereby surf the virtual marketplace for free and premium downloads, has certainly helped the phenomenal growth of Live on Xbox 360.

The next step for Microsoft is to open up Xbox Live to our PCs, an initiative that's been deemed 'Live Anywhere.' Halo 2 for Vista and Shadowrun will serve as guinea pigs for this ambitious mulit-platform project, which will also span mobile phones. Given that many potential console gamers will have Vista PCs, and most will own cell phones, Live Anywhere could be an unrivaled draw for consumers a year or two from now.

Tags: Xbox Live, XboxLive

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Silver R. Wolfe @ Jul 13th 2006 2:59PM

Well when they have the free Silver Live version, of course more people are going to use what features it provides.

If it's free and you have the internets, you might as well get registered and whatnot.

Yoshi Likes Boys @ Jul 13th 2006 3:04PM

Isn't that an absurd misnomer? On the original XBox live was a paid, premium service. Here, Silver comes with each console, so 60% would be the "connect rate," showing how many console owners have hooked up to the service, since every console comes with the Live Silver membership.

fwacce @ Jul 13th 2006 3:05PM

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/06/19

SickNic @ Jul 13th 2006 3:10PM

I just hope they keep gamerscores seperate. The one thing I don't need is to compare gamerscores to someone who plays PC, cell phone, and Xbox360 games. That would be kinda ridiculous. If they seperate the scores into platform categories, than that might work. Compare your PC gamerscore to another's PC gamerscore.

Nate @ Jul 13th 2006 3:15PM

"Xbox Live attach rate has grown 50 percent", it has actually grown 600%

60% is 600% of 10%

If it had "grown 50%" then the attach rate would now be 15%

Jeremy Wright @ Jul 13th 2006 3:17PM

To be fair, the "attach rate" has grown 500%. 10% to 50% isn't 50% growth. 50% growth would be growing to 15%.

That said, the "attach rate" isn't the same, as others have noted, since you don't necessarily pay for subscription with the 360. Didn't a previous interview put the number of Gold members at like 50%?

*ALL of that said*, on the Xbox there were also lots and lots and lots of free trials floating around, so even the 10% was deceptive.

Either way, usage of Live - way up. Downloading of content - way, way up (faster adoption than iTunes). Features - way, way, way up.

Who cares about attach rates, really?

Rask @ Jul 13th 2006 3:23PM

Still, that 60% attach rate means that 60% of the owners of X360's can download your demo, TV/Movie Trailer, Xbox Live Arcade Trial etc etc etc. Much bigger penetration than magazine DVD's.

That's a huge pool of exposure to your product if you're making games without any of the overhead of traditional internet download method.

Baboon @ Jul 13th 2006 3:30PM

Am I the only one who sees playing a FPS against someone on a computer while I am on a console as a bad thing?

JimmyHACK @ Jul 13th 2006 3:38PM

i think a silver subscription should not be counted in the totals.... since you are comparing to a figure of xbox1 which was paid membership only

epobirs @ Jul 13th 2006 3:40PM

Two things:

The rate of paying users for multiplayer, Live Gold, is likely greater thanks to giving people a much greater motive for getting their console online than before. Getting them to run a cable to the machine or some form of wireless, that is half the battle.

The so-called 'free' users, on Live Silver, are still a source of great potential revenue. They can do all of the shopping for XBLA games and additional content for retail games. Again, getting them hooked up in the first plae by having a certain amount of genuinely free stuff is a very good strategy. You have to make that investment in bandwidth to get the wider market interested.

Free access to playable demos is a hugely useful feature. If you're in the habit of regularly buying full price games, being able to test out a game in advance can be a great money saver, even if you needed to drop a chunk of cash on a WiFi bridge or adapter.

So the great increase in Xbox Live usage per machine sold isn't surprising. What is far more surprising to me is that so many have bought the machine without taking advantage of one of its greatest advantages over existing products.

By the time the PS3 and Wii have been out long enough that we start referring to them as 'current gen,' downloading playable demos will become the norm, as it has been for years on the PC, but for now the Xbox 360 has a really nice distinguishing feature among consoles.

Dave @ Jul 13th 2006 3:47PM

Definitely an apples-to-oranges comparison, as others have mentioned.

Another important thing to think about is the demographics of who has bought the 360 at this point. Wouldn't it make sense that the more "hardcore" gamers make up much more of the 360 audience than the original XBox and that they are more likely to hop online?

Mark D. @ Jul 13th 2006 4:24PM

You said that Halo 2 will allow for PC-Xbox interconnectivity. MS/Bungie have said that that will not be the case.

Tom @ Jul 13th 2006 4:35PM

number 8

i see its a tempary problem,and one that will benifit those of us dieing for a keyboard mouse option for the 360. there is no way a game played with a controler can compete with someone useing a kb/m combo and i'm sure ms knows this . Hopefully this means better fps control for us shooter fans is only a short time away.

Rhys @ Jul 13th 2006 4:39PM

@(8)Baboon

Yep! =0)

I am far better with a controller then I ever was with a mouse. Bring on the Xbox/PC battles!

And besides - not everyone is ultra Competitive. I don't care if they have some advantage.

Tom @ Jul 13th 2006 4:41PM

number 11

since the same situation accured at the start of the xbox life cycle,meaning hardcore gamers bought first,then this logic doesnt fly. However,if the attach rate was at %60 then taperd off as the casual gamers came on board,then your logic fits. But I dont belive that is the case,so this is nothing but good news for MS and fans of xbox gaming.

Tom @ Jul 13th 2006 4:45PM

no.14,I respect your point of view,but clearly you rarly us a kb/m to game. the advantage is massive. your accuarcy will be way below the pc player and you wont be able to spin nearly as fast. It would be a hudge disadvantage. But hey,as long as i have the option to mouse it,then im happy,other wise,i would simple by any fps for the pc if it was cross compatible.

Tempest261 @ Jul 13th 2006 6:32PM

Here's a question nobody has answered yet:

Is Live Anywhere on the PC going to be free?
Because if it's not, then MS is in for a rude awakening. Especially if they pull this microtransaction (pay $5 for a background and icons) bullshit. PC gamers aren't idiots (like their console bretheren apparently are.. I can't believe they pay for that stuff when they're already paying for Live on top of their DSL bill).

Serious Kriss @ Jul 13th 2006 9:31PM

What Tempest261 said. If Live Anywhere isn't free on the PC I'll just stick to Xfire.

JJ @ Jul 13th 2006 10:04PM

Well you'd also have to realize that anyone who buys a system within its first year/months etcetera isn't a casual gamers, they're early adopters and as such tend to have more money and up to date info than average. So they're usually the ones that have the high speed internet connection and nice TV"s etc.

So these numbers dont surprise me. if 5.5mil 360's have sold worldwide so far, then that's about 3.3 million people that are on live, how many people are online on the original xbox? because you'd have to think a majority of those users probably have bought 360.
So the numbers aren't surprising, since XBL is free and comes with the system now and on xbox you had to actually buy it, (I mean heck i DL tons of stuff on live simply cuz i'm bored, so i'm sure they're numbers are high). So that can effect the end numbers as well.
But all in all, not bad MS not bad.

nick @ Jul 13th 2006 11:35PM

For me the big difference between Live on the Xbox and Live on the 360, is the latter has all games being Live enabled.

The ability to play online, the ability to patch or receive updates, and now the online demos or videos was a huge factor in me getting Live. When I had Live on the Xbox, I let my account expire. I don't anticipate doing that again.