360 owners flock to Xbox Live

360 News | 60% of them, to be precise.

The percentage of Xbox 360 owners who have used their console online now stands at 60%, according to Xbox Live group marketing manager Aaron Greenburg. The figure represents a dramatic improvement from the piffling 10% who took the original Xbox online, and even surpasses Microsoft's own expectations for Xbox Live usage amongst 360 owners: back in September last year, MS chief Xbox officer Robbie Bach estimated that half of Xbox 360 owners would use the system online.

"What we've actually seen is it went from 50 to 55, and now it's at 60," said Greenburg in an interview with Gamespot. "And so we're not just sustaining it, we're growing that. Logic says it will come down at some point, but the fact that it's continuing to grow and we have the majority of our users connected online has really changed the gaming experience this generation."

It's certainly an impressive figure, and there's every chance that future Live-compatible 360 titles, such as Viva Piñata and Gears of War, will further boost the number heading online. We shudder to think of what effect Halo 3 will have.

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7 Comments

Suetekh

5 years ago

Well by and large they provide a good stable service now, and online play is great fun. It is no surprise that more and more people are adopting it. Live was the main reason I got cable internet and now I have also splashed out on a wireless router and adaptor for the 360 (expensive but hopefully much tidier than having cables runnig halfway across the house)

ugh the boot

5 years ago

Yea the service has worked well since the original xbox but with the xbox 360 it has been made very user friendly aswell as being able to setup an account without a credit card etc really helps a lot. The gold/silver accounts have been very well thought out and allows for more streamlined use of the service.

rankodour

5 years ago

Am I mistaken in thinking the Live Silver service is free?

ugh the boot

5 years ago

No you're correct, anyone can setup a Silver Live account as long as they have an xbox 360 and a internet connection (preferably broadband). Infact after you setup your account for the first time you will get a 1 month trial of the Gold membership.

The gold membership lets you play games online whereas the silver one doesn't. That is the only difference between the 2. Both accounts are free to download any content from the marketplace.

LeonJ

5 years ago

There is nothing better then Live for online gaming and converging it all into a easy to use package.

But it was always going to happen with the 360, it's Live aware out of the box!

slapshakle

5 years ago

I can't imagine having a 360 only offline. I love when extra content is released for games I own. I'd hate to miss out on it.

realitybites

5 years ago

I think its a great service.

But I agree with the statement above a friend of mine firmly believes his XBox 360 needs to be online. He is looking at broadband now to get that access.

Its funny and probably a little sad how all of sudden online is whats required.

But thats teh way of the world. IP connectivity.

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