Xbox Live members hit the 4 million mark

by Blake Snow { Oct 19th 2006 at 2:20PM }

Microsoft announced late yesterday that Xbox Live has reached the 4 million connected member mark as GameDaily notes the number most certainly includes "both paying Gold members and non-paying Silver members." In light of the news, Bill's software/hardware company expects total Xbox Live members to exceed 6 million by next summer.

The press release also observes that more than 70% of connected Xbox 360 consoles have downloaded content from the Xbox Live Marketplace, 24% of downloadable demos convert to a purchase on Xbox Live Arcade, and more than 2 billion productivity hours have been lost (read: hours spent online) since the platform's inception back in 2002.

Xbox Live's Hal 9000 had this to say in response to the news: "Boom! Headshot!" spoken in an eerily calm manner.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Lorben @ Oct 19th 2006 2:26PM

If he's so in love with his 360 why is there Dragon Quest 8 on the table?

Erik Novak @ Oct 19th 2006 2:27PM

that picture is disturbing.

crono141 @ Oct 19th 2006 2:30PM

Impressive, considering WoW's population as a benchmark.

'course, WoW is just 1 game, and Live is, like, a whole bunch.

Eric Von Shpeel @ Oct 19th 2006 2:32PM

4 million members more like 4 million accounts. I have 3 accounts, my friend has 3. Most people on the UK Forums have at least 2. I have mine to download US and JAP content on my UK xbox.

BlindsideDork @ Oct 19th 2006 2:35PM

Yeah, another forum had this post...doesn't include how many are GOLD. Also, everyone who buys a 360 has a silver account and in the other article it said it also included bronze or something...

So pretty much this number is useless.

joe smith @ Oct 19th 2006 2:39PM

If he hears voices coming from his Xbox360, I think an intervention may be in order...

.ed @ Oct 19th 2006 2:41PM

4 million accounts in 4 years over 2 systems isn't all that impressive when most people are practically forced to have multiple acocunts. somewhere i saw numbers saying that there are actually only 160,000 "active" live users over the past 3 months. that is a number i believe, considering it came from a capital investment firm rather than a PR release.

nodnetni @ Oct 19th 2006 2:56PM

Well if my Xbox live would connect it could be 4million+1.

Joe @ Oct 19th 2006 3:03PM

they don't go by accounts. they send something to every xbox. once its logged on it can no longer be acounted for. so if timmy signs on first, tommys sign on will not add another user. they did this awhile back when they said that they had 2 million users with the origional xbox. i believe it, considering how many xbox and xbox 360's there are out, and for the 360 you only need broadband.

Blizz419 @ Oct 19th 2006 3:05PM

@ BlindsideDork

there is no such thing as a bronze account, and no not everyone has a silver account, if someone doesnt have a broadband connection they havent set up a account at all unless they bring there system to a friends house to download stuff.

mandarin @ Oct 19th 2006 3:06PM

Ewww console man-love..

ill trooper @ Oct 19th 2006 3:11PM

...And it was so great waiting for it to stop wonking out over the last 24 hours, the 25-48th hours into a 24-hour update. This from a software company?

I love LIVE, but like .ed, I too wonder about actual numbers and capacity potential. I've written about it here before: When the demo for 'The Outfit' was on the top-10 LIVE games earlier this year, before the 360 was freely available (march 6th it was, a long time ago, in a bestbuy far far away), it was 1) a demo that you had to download, which a lot of people had trouble downloading, and 2) you needed a 360 to play, so that was a fairly limited crowd.. but yet it managed to place as number 2 on LIVE, with Halo2 in the pole position, of course. In fact, if you look at Major Nelson's LIVE listings every week, he usually points out that the list is headed up by Halo, then all 360 titles - no XBox titles other than Halo even make the top 10.

What I'm tryin' to figure out here is: are there really that many people actively using LIVE for anything beyond HALO? I think LIVE's amazing, with the demos, the Arcade downloads, connectivity, etc., but I wonder if Microsoft is only talking about the 'potential' and not the 'actual.'

The "Poor man's hustle," it's called... only showing you the crowded front room full of Master Chief outfits, while the back rooms are empty.

Just wondering...

Ash @ Oct 19th 2006 3:16PM

hell yeah man... xbox live rocks!

Brandon Paddock @ Oct 19th 2006 3:19PM

#7 - good job making up numbers.

snoopaloop @ Oct 19th 2006 3:43PM

I wonder how long it will take Nintendo to register 4 million different users on Wii's network. I'd bet on 1 1/2 to 2 years.

Zo� K. @ Oct 19th 2006 3:44PM

Is that you, Blake?

No wonder they call you "Snow". :3

Steve @ Oct 19th 2006 4:32PM

ill trooper,

I play project gotham 3 on live for a couple hours a week. I have built up a list of friend that I know are cool and I have a fun time racing with. Sometimes I'll play call of duty 2, although not as often, but there are always more than enough people to fill up any room I go to.
Also, whenever I play test drive unlimited, everyone else who has the $4 a month live is on as well.
Once forza 2, tony hawk project 8, lost planet and gears of war come out, I have a feeling I will be on it even more.

Al @ Oct 19th 2006 4:35PM

This number is not accurate period since each user can have up to 50 accounts on 1 Xbox 360.

Also they cleverly forgot to mention, that there are less paying subscribers to Xbox LIVE today than there were 2 years numbers are actually dropping.

Counting Free Silver accounts is like saying everyone who walks into Gamestop is a customer.

Also the Xbox 360 sales are worse actually than the sales of the original Xbox did the 360 is selling worse than Xbox 1 even with zero competition.

So if Microsoft wants to start talking numbers they will have a nightmare on their hands

Jason Lynx @ Oct 19th 2006 5:01PM

You guys are retarded. Xbox Live is the best online console service and will be for some time.

I've downloaded about 200 or so demos, games & videos so far.

Inferno @ Oct 19th 2006 5:09PM

Discounting Xbox Silver accounts is not smart. MS was wise to include that feature. All those people can still spend money on content, XBLA, etc. That makes XBLA now a totally seperate possible development platform. A platform 4 million strong, with low development costs... pretty much guaranteed money maker. Not to mention with XNA, you develop for XBLA and can also port it to PC and have it downloaded by all those customers too. As for online multiplayer, there are always plenty of people online for any online game I play, so I don't care how many more people join. I will be playing and having fun :p

biohazard @ Oct 19th 2006 5:17PM

@18 [and in general]
"Counting Free Silver accounts is like saying everyone who walks into Gamestop is a customer."

No, the user must have connected their Xbox360 to live at some point to create said silver account. This is no different than a user who will log on to the (free) PS3 online service or gets a weather report from the Wii online weather channel. When those numbers are repoted will there be conditions applied: only those users who've spent $1.85 (or equivliant localized currancy)?

No, it will be user accounts who have logged in.

Joe P. @ Oct 19th 2006 5:34PM

It's no surprise that every time MS trumpets their numbers for XBL, they NEVER ONCE disclose how many actual paying members they have. What is surprising is the way the collective "media" dutifully repeat MS marketing spin, while never pointing out this fact, or pressing MS for an answer.

Hell, considering the free nature of the basic service, it's a wonder they're not at about 100% penetration.