Xbox Live usage jumps 80 percent since Gears of War

by Ross Miller { Dec 5th 2006 at 4:55PM }

Since November 7 there has been an 80 percent increase in the number of Xbox Live users, according to broadband usage monitoring company Sandvine Incorporated. What's interesting is that November 7 is also the day Gears of War started showing up in retail outlets. The traffic spike, they claim, is similar to what the company noted when Halo 2 was released in 2004.

If we recall, Gears of War came with a 48-hour trial of Xbox Live Gold. What isn't clear from Sandvine's analysis, as reported by ars technica and others, is to what extent this spike is solely from redeemed trials and what was the retention rate for those that tried XBL Gold. That's a statistic, however, we won't officially know until Microsoft decides to gloat. Throw us some numbers, Major Nelson!

Also revealed by Sandvine, Apple's iTunes service garnered a 140-percent surge in traffic; the culprit is suspected to be their recently-unveiled movie download service.

Tags: apple, gears of war, GearsOfWar, i tunes, ITunes, xbox live, XboxLive

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

crono141 @ Dec 5th 2006 5:00PM

Damn!

MMurdock @ Dec 5th 2006 5:06PM

I don't doubt it. This game is freakin awesome.

bubbastump @ Dec 5th 2006 5:15PM

GOW certainly brought me out of the woodworks to play online again. It and Call of Duty 3 have satisfied my need for multiplayer madness.

Buckshot @ Dec 5th 2006 5:31PM

That multi-player level with the train, is the shizz!!!

RHP @ Dec 5th 2006 5:35PM

I think Microsoft's numbers are better than people are speculating. We won't know for sure until their quarterly report, unless they happen to clue us in earlier.

Just from personal observation, I'm noticing that the 360 is flying off the shelves at my local Best Buy-- which incidentally, I noticed one configuration carried a pack-in of Need for Speed Most Wanted.

X @ Dec 5th 2006 5:52PM

XBOX 360 RULES!!!

(I've been saying(writing) this for almost a year now)

Stephen @ Dec 5th 2006 6:38PM

Damn, I want that game

Logic Bus @ Dec 5th 2006 9:30PM

I call deceiving headline. An 80% increase in total hours of activity would indicate a significant increase in paid use, or an increase in activity by existing paid users. An 80% increase in users of course can be attributed largely to the 48 hour free trial cards. And if a user burns through one card, won't he need to create a new account to activate another 48 hour card that he might have had sitting around from another game he purchased recently? Such a scenario would only further inflate this statistic.

mike @ Dec 5th 2006 9:32PM

Wow, i wonder how it will be for halo 3 launch

-- wow another shooting game? awesome!

Bweetza @ Dec 5th 2006 11:00PM

This game deserves all of the praise it's getting and more. I've really never been into the FPS genre but my buddy told me to give this a try. The game is flawless, from my view and I was hard pressed to put it down. I only put it down to sleep and goto work. This is the game the 360 should have had at launch. A true 'next-gen' game that lives up to the hype.

LongshotX @ Dec 5th 2006 11:36PM

It is an awesome single player game, some say the story is lacking but I think it's a good start for now (kept me interested and I'm sure GOW2 will add a lot more to the story). The multiplayer is cool but if you're like me you end up on a newbie team vs. the pro team and you'll get murdered all day. I wish it created matches more fairly (am I doing something wrong when I select my matches?) I just started the Xbox 360 experience and it is everything it claims. An exceptional system and Live is fantastic (I only have 90 points). Message me if you are a Newb and you have GOW (My ID is Slvrgun).

Shagi @ Dec 6th 2006 12:16AM

Wow I wonder how many Wii players are enjoying them online.

Mal F4cti0n @ Dec 6th 2006 8:37AM

Nothing like running around a corner and having some dude waiting for you to blow your head off, but you roll under his blast, come up and blast him in the face so his head 'splodes off and his body slowly falls to the ground.

Hoo-yah!

matthew @ Dec 6th 2006 12:20PM

I've had Live for awhile, but the first (and still more or less only) time I've used it for online play is GoW, both co-op and multiplayer. If they're measuring just bandwidth, I'd be a part of that stat even though I've had Live for several months.

Jayslacks @ Dec 6th 2006 12:36PM

I've said it before and I'll see it again: Good gamers make better games. Right now, Halo 3 has to kick ass on so many levels to out match Gears of War. But I have faith in Bungie to make it happen, but there is nothing wrong with a little pressure.

Mark Hengst II @ Dec 6th 2006 1:47PM

You mean the video service which has yet to really generate any buzz or money for Apple? The service that basically has disney pics and....well disney pics. They may be doing well on their tv series stuff, but neither the 360 nor the Ipod's movie services have generated much buzz past their first announcements.