Microsoft shares post-NXE stats: Marketplace sales up, more friends online

by Christopher Grant { Dec 10th 2008 at 7:36PM }

Just three weeks after the – by all accounts, very successful – launch of the New Xbox Experience, Microsoft is ready to trumpet some statistics related to the new interface. To help us navigate this panoply of numbers, Microsoft lent us the services of one Mr. Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, who served as our tour guide through the press release.

First, with 14 million folks suddenly using an entirely new interface designed to make content easier to find, you'd wonder how successful it is in that regard. Well, glad you asked! Microsoft reports that Marketplace downloads of TV episodes were up 30% and movie downloads an impressive 49% the week after the NXE launch. This is in spite of competition from Netflix's ample on-demand offerings in both areas. Wondering how many folks are using Netflix? Yeah, so were we ... Greenberg told us they're not providing that data just yet, but we wouldn't be surprised to hear them noting that as a success during next month's CES.

Post-NXE "the number of new friends added per Xbox LIVE member has risen by 33%" across both Gold and Silver Xbox Live memberships. Pre-NXE numbers put the average number of friends for a Gold subscriber at around 23 – but without data for both classes of membership, it's impossible to determine the new average (Silver members are likely to have far fewer friends). What's responsible for the uptick? Greenberg points to the party system, where Xbox Live members can see the people playing with their friends. Who's that stupid guy in the white suit playing with xXsmokezmadbluntz420Xx? Click on the party and find out.

If you somehow managed to skip the Avatar creation process, Greenberg says it's a "loophole" so we wouldn't expect you'll get away with your silhouette much longer. But when you do finally make an avatar, consider some of the Xbox Live Arcade games now featuring avatar support. NinjaBee's Avater-infused A Kingdom for Keflings managed to record the second-largest XBLA launch ever while UNO, which was updated to include Avatar support, saw a 650% sales spike "in just one day." Of course, we don't think the 2-1/2 year-old game was selling much at this point, but 650% is 650% so, kudos.

With the stats out of the way, it was time to ask what everyone's been wondering: At what point is the New Xbox Experience no longer new? And what, pray tell, will we call it then. Here at Joystiq, we're considering "Current Xbox Experience" as a worthy successor to the NXE – Greenberg says, surely jokingly, that he hadn't thought of it before. Sure you haven't, Aaron. Once the NXE starts making its way into newly manufactured Xboxen this Spring, as well as retail game discs in January, we expect to see even further penetration and then we'll bring up the NXE-dilemma again.

Greenberg wasn't ready to talk about new functionality or when it's coming – think Netflix sharing, Xbox Live Primetime, or new gear for your Avatar – but it's clear Microsoft considers the New Xbox Experience an early success. If you believe the stats, you're looking at more engagement, more social interaction, and more Marketplace sales,

Tags: Aaron-Greenberg, BreakingNews, New-Xbox-Experience, NXE

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Zach S @ Dec 10th 2008 7:42PM

I'm not surprised- I was just thinking today that the NXE has really done a great job of highlighting the community aspects of Xbox Live more so than was possible in the original blades, and that the marketplace is much easier to navigate. Overall, I think it's been a good "experience" (har har) for everyone involved!

ice~ @ Dec 10th 2008 7:45PM

yea you do feel a little more connected to your friends than with the blades, especially because you can see their avatars and who they're chatting with

Marty @ Dec 11th 2008 10:44AM

I am actually very impressed at how smoothly everything went - the old updates were usually accompanied by throngs of people complaining about being "bricked," but I haven't seen too many people complaining about NXE (other than the handful of avatar-haters), so good job to MS for rolling out a clean update.

J.Goodwin @ Dec 10th 2008 7:44PM

I'm really glad to hear that Kingdom for Keflings did well. The Ninja Bee guys are good peoples, and their games are always fun.

Premature ejaculation man @ Dec 10th 2008 7:45PM

Marketplace is up possibly due to having ads shown as soon as you turn on the xbox

=(

Moorio - XBL: peacebyanymeans @ Dec 10th 2008 7:48PM

So did the old interface. At least it looks nice now.

DBoyFlex @ Dec 10th 2008 7:52PM

I would also bet they are up due to xbox.com marketplace useage.

AoE @ Dec 11th 2008 5:19PM

yeah, marketplace on xbox.com has gotten me to spend some extra space bux as i've been surfing @ work...

Faar @ Dec 10th 2008 7:49PM

Wow. It takes suits at Microsoft to decide that grey as a background colour is what attracts hip youths... /facepalm

Nael M. @ Dec 10th 2008 7:58PM

That's an early preview screen shot. The final NXE comes with a much more interesting background.

Markez @ Dec 10th 2008 9:44PM

Yeah my Fable II theme is pretty gnarly. Do the kids still say that these days, gnarly?

Farseer (GDI) @ Dec 11th 2008 9:46AM

...says the guy who obviously hasn't used the NXE yet...

/facepalm

Chris @ Dec 10th 2008 8:11PM

Maybe I should turn on my 360 and try this NXE. I haven't turned it on in over 2 months.

Vol @ Dec 10th 2008 8:18PM

Wow.. you post on Joystiq but haven't touched your 360 in two months. That is a rarity.

Markez @ Dec 10th 2008 9:47PM

Hasn't turned on his box in months, but he sure seems to be turning you on, lightbulb.

*flees*

Chris @ Dec 11th 2008 12:05AM

I play my PS3 too much, that's why I haven't felt the need to turn it on.

Moorio - XBL: peacebyanymeans @ Dec 11th 2008 12:54AM

I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone.

Jacksons @ Dec 10th 2008 8:12PM

Goes without saying.

343 Guilty Fart @ Dec 10th 2008 8:16PM

Speaking of the new party system, I get annoyed that when a friend of mine is in a party it displays the names of all the other party members first before it displays my friend's name. I could care less about mr. xxsmokedabluntzxx.

Premature ejaculation man @ Dec 10th 2008 8:29PM

Even worse is when the avatars haven't loaded, so I can't even identify them.

A bit of an odd choice though.

Gun Barrier @ Dec 10th 2008 8:31PM

Speaking of the party system... does anyone have the problem of party members dropping out for no reason? Its annoying and it happens often.

sjs2626 @ Dec 10th 2008 9:43PM

Happens a lot to me too. I thought it was only me because the rest of my party would stay intact. Hope they fix it soon, though.

Cyro @ Dec 11th 2008 8:43AM

Haven't had that problem yet. NXE working great so far. :)

AoE @ Dec 11th 2008 5:22PM

there's a reason, your friends don't want to say it... but they don't like you ;)

Obie @ Dec 10th 2008 8:34PM

I agree, the NXE has improved the social aspects (party system and Avatars), but the interface still needs to be tweaked. The spam channels have to go!

DBoyFlex @ Dec 10th 2008 9:05PM

I agree, but watch out, every other time somebody said that they get spammed by a million people. Apparently they think it is ok to pay for a service and then get spammed. It would be one thing if it were free.

AoE @ Dec 11th 2008 5:25PM

@DBoyFlex,

Do you go off about advertisements on cable/satellite TV? What about advertisements in magazines and newspapers? Most services we pay for these days come chock full of ads... why is it shocking that yet another service you pay for is chock full of ads? I honestly don't understand why anyone is surprised...

Obie @ Dec 11th 2008 6:21PM

What shocks me more, AOE ,is that find this totally acceptable. Just because something is prevalent, doesn't mean it is right.

AoE @ Dec 11th 2008 7:32PM

@Obie,

Well... I agree to a point. Americans like cheap things, and part of the way things like cable television, magazines, and it seems xbox live make their income is through advertisements. I don't know if you've noticed, but there are magazines on the rack that have little or no advertising in them... they also cost $10-$20 per issue. So really looking ad ads we're still paying for the service... just with our eyes instead of straight from our wallets. I couldn't say for certain but I am willing to bet if MS wanted to keep things profitable (the ONLY reason any business does anything is to make a profit, not for good will or happy feelings or any other motivation that is not directly profit related) but also make things ad-free they'd have to charge us all somewhere in the realm of $200/yr for the service. And considering there's already a legion of people who choke on the $50 a year thing... well, it begins to make sense why most of us just shrug our shoulders and move on?

Kevin949 @ Dec 10th 2008 8:50PM

All I wanna know is where the hell is my "played games" options when browsing game add-on content? Now I have to view alphabetical or put each game in individually and view that way. And there doesn't seem to be a "new" notification now nor a checkmark letting me know what I have and haven't downloaded. :(

Markez @ Dec 10th 2008 9:51PM

Think the results are a little spurious here to say that the new interface alone is driving up all this activity.

My buddy, who has been clinging on to his PS2 for dear life for years finally bought one of those nice new 360 bundles. Even after I'd been recommending the PS3 for him given what his console preferences are. The holiday season, new bundles, pricing, hype around the NXE, etc., IMO all contribute to this uptick.

I'd imagine the #s will still be up after they level out after awhile, and to me those will be the more interesting stats to see.

KeegdnaB @ Dec 10th 2008 9:54PM

So they won't start shipping new consoles with it until Spring? I guess that answers my question of whether the one I'll get for christmas will have it preloaded.

It also gives me there are going to be alot of confused parents and children on Christmas.....Billy gets a 360, mom/dad help him set it up. They connect it online and it makes them download the update. Reboot and suddenly what happened to the screen?

NutMan @ Dec 10th 2008 10:21PM

It tells you what the "new xbox experience" is right when you complete the download...

I doubt anyone will be confused.

KeegdnaB @ Dec 11th 2008 12:57AM

Obviously it tells them....I just figured there would be quite a few who would get caught off guard and possibly freak out a little.

WilhelmThe1st @ Dec 11th 2008 2:45AM

OMG MY SCREEN CHANGED. AHHHHHHHH RUN FOR THE HILLS

Jeff @ Dec 10th 2008 9:58PM

The only thing that really bothers me about NXE is that it defaults to Spotlight rather than My Xbox. It's really annoying.

BxGT @ Dec 10th 2008 10:42PM

So press up on the d pad, was that so hard?

Markez @ Dec 10th 2008 10:53PM

Phhhhbbbttt... Like once or twice a day? Yes, too hard.

Dion @ Dec 11th 2008 3:08AM

yeah, i will consider NXE not new after the market place has even started working for me....Ever since the NXE update, my marketplace 'tab' has not even shown up when i sign on to XBL. Its throwing about 3 different error codes whenever i try to do anything at all related to the marketplace or netflix.

Here is a link to a 5 page thread on the xbox.com forums about the problem:

http://forums.xbox.com/2/24134930/ShowPost.aspx#24134930

Draken Stark @ Dec 11th 2008 3:43AM

Please suggest anime based gear for avatars that next time you meet with them.

I'm still waiting for some anime Cat Ears for my avatar! *preys that NOT only girls could wear them*

LordPaul @ Dec 11th 2008 4:00AM

I only use mine for streaming videos (when my PS3 won't play it) & the process just seems to be much more annoying than before.

Is there an easy way to get to a video than going through all that animated garbage & then it not actually playing till I've pressed ok 3 times?

quasebrasileiro @ Dec 11th 2008 2:08PM

Are you trying to play via Media Center? Screw that, it absolutely sucks and uses so much of you're computer's CPU that everything slows to a crawl hence having to try several times.

Just put the video you want to play in "my videos" or on the desktop of you're computer. Then go to My Xbox> Videos> select you're computer as the source> choose you're video> click play.

No annoying animations, no waiting, no slow down, and it works the first time everytime.

Ritz @ Dec 11th 2008 2:09PM

Ya, rly. Just hit the Xbox home button to bring up the mini-blade. I think shortcuts to music, pictures, video and the mediacenter are to the first right of the default blade.

Actually, the mini-blade system is what I like best about the CXE. The difference in being able to find stuff compared to the OXE or the CXE's dashboard is almost without comparison.

LordPaul @ Dec 11th 2008 3:09PM

nah, not using MCE.
I use a NASBOX with twonkymedia (which for some reason the xbox can't always see, despite it being licensed & working from the webview, my PS3 has the same issues but obviously has a browser so I can bypass it)

it's "Then go to My Xbox> Videos> select you're computer as the source> choose you're video> click play." that seems to take longer than before. It's only the odd file that my PS3 won't play that I resort to the 360 for nowadays though but I'll try the mini-blade thing, cheers!

MattX @ Dec 11th 2008 5:46AM

Has anyone else noticed that NXE is much, much slower in loading up games libraries, and generally flicking between the marketplace stores?
I tried to download 10 or so community games and I gave up after 4 or 5 as it took sooo long to load the game "preview" pane (do you want to download trial screen) and then reload the downloadable selection.
Any ideas why this is now crawling on its hand and knees?

MattX @ Dec 11th 2008 5:47AM

and who the flippin'eck decides I would be best represented by the picture of some hirsute spannerman with a persistent inter cranial abuse issue?

dvnt @ Dec 11th 2008 12:02PM

I've watched Heroes from Episode 1 to the end of Season 3 over Netflix on 360. By far the best feature of the NXE.

quasebrasileiro @ Dec 11th 2008 2:16PM

Me too. Between me and my wife we've probably watched a good 50 videos over Netflix since launch. I'll watch things on there I wouldn't have the patience to sit through if I were viewing it on my computer monitor. My favorites are the first season of "The Twilight Zone", "Star Trek" and all the campy horror movies on there. I've even used it to play kid movies for my 3 year old daughter. When I bought my 360 I never imagined she'd be using it!