Author Topic: 1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live  (Read 16990 times)

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Offline Mario

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1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« on: July 16, 2004, 05:26:28 AM »

Offline Ian Sane

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RE: 1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2004, 07:29:15 AM »
I'd say a million is a large enough number to assume that next gen online gaming will be pretty popular.  How many Cube games have sold a million copies?  Like 2 or 3 maybe?  A potential market of only 1 million users isn't too hot if you're selling an online only title but it's a big enough number that throwing in online multiplayer into an otherwise offline game seems worthwhile.

Offline Flames_of_chaos

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RE:1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2004, 08:10:41 AM »
Well  thats still only about 1/16th of the whole Xbox user base.  And  EA might help to add more subscribers but ehh  1 million isnt that much for a service.
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Offline mouse_clicker

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RE:1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2004, 10:23:02 AM »
That's 1 million people signed up for XBox Live, not playing it-  keep in mind, also, that a year's subscription was given away for free with an XBox for a while as part of a promotional deal. You can bet nowhere near 1 million people actually use XBox Live, at least not on a regular basis. And when that one year free subscription runs out, I'd warrant that "roster" drops considerably.  

Quote

How many Cube games have sold a million copies? Like 2 or 3 maybe?


Eh, more, I think- SSBM, Wind Waker, and both Resident Evils at least. There's probably a few others that are very close, like SA2:B. I'd be interested to know actual sales figures, though- does anyone know of a place that tracks worldwide sales for games?
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Offline AMac2002

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RE:1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2004, 09:56:22 PM »
Quote

That's 1 million people signed up for XBox Live, not playing it- keep in mind, also, that a year's subscription was given away for free with an XBox for a while as part of a promotional deal. You can bet nowhere near 1 million people actually use XBox Live, at least not on a regular basis. And when that one year free subscription runs out, I'd warrant that "roster" drops considerably.


Still, one million software sold converning video games is nothing to scoff at. And that number continues to rise, and will jump a bit when Halo 2 comes out.

Offline mouse_clicker

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RE:1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #5 on: July 16, 2004, 10:18:58 PM »
It's not even 1 million sold, because like I said a lot of "XBox Live users" got it for free, and when their subscription runs out I expect a huge drop in subscribers. It's respectable, I guess, but people are going to start using it as evidence against Nintendo, which is crap because the're pulling it completely out of context.
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Offline Deguello

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RE: 1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #6 on: July 17, 2004, 12:08:29 AM »
I read that as, "1 million game players are using Xbox Live! for free."

If they were actually using a profit-rendering fee system, I doubt they'd have 1/100th of those numbers.

And I still suspect their numbers, didn't, like 2 months ago MS say they had 750,000 users?  That's a pretty impressive jump if you ask me.
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Offline soulfate

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RE:1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #7 on: July 17, 2004, 02:57:42 AM »
I have two XBL accounts, so you need to take that into consideration as well. All of the serious gamers I know also have at least two, some of them even three accounts. That could amount to 1mil accounts, but only 750K actual users. Could explain the different figures, but I don't think they could collaborate all that data to get those kind of stats anyway.
Although XBL has been out for almost 2 years (released in the US Nov 15, 2002), it's only been here in NZ for 5 months, and there's a few countries out there that have had it for even less time than that. That's another thing to think about because not everyone has caught on to it yet.

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Originally posted by: Deguello
If they were actually using a profit-rendering fee system, I doubt they'd have 1/100th of those numbers.


You pay for your subscription when you buy your Live Kit ($100NZD), so they do get profit from this system, and many people, myself included, are happy to pay this fee because the service is a great one and well worth the money. I find it much more forgiving and user friendly than online PC gaming.


Offline Xenplan

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RE: 1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #8 on: July 17, 2004, 10:06:07 AM »
Longtime reader/lurker, but I can be of assistance in regards to sales data.

http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~hokora/gcrank.html

The sources of the chart are of NPD and Famitsu, so I believe it's accurate.  You can also view sales data of the other consoles including  GBA near the bottom  

Offline mouse_clicker

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RE:1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #9 on: July 17, 2004, 03:16:13 PM »
Thanks Xenplay. I was right that there are more platinum selling Gamecube games than 2 or 3. In America alone, there are 6: SSBM, Mario Kart, Super Mario Sunshine, Wind Waker, Luigi's Mansion, and Metroid Prime. Including Japanese sales there are 12: Mario Party 4, Mario Party 5, SA2:B, Star Fox Adventures, Animal Crossing, and Pokemon Colosseum. With the addition of European sales I'm sure a few borderline games have sold a million by now.  

Comparitively, according to that same chart, the XBox has 4 platinum selling games, 3 of them in America alone: Halo, Splinter Cell, Dead or Alive 3, and Project Gotham Racing. The PS2 has, by my count (I might have missed some) 31 platinum selling titles- a lot of them sold like crazy in Japan and then little more than 10,000 here.  
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Offline Deguello

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RE: 1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #10 on: July 17, 2004, 09:28:49 PM »
"You pay for your subscription when you buy your Live Kit ($100NZD), so they do get profit from this system, and many people, myself included, are happy to pay this fee because the service is a great one and well worth the money. I find it much more forgiving and user friendly than online PC gaming."

No No No, you don't understand.  MS has sunk about $2 billion in Live. From just one year of the alleged 1 million subscribers each hopefully paying $50 (roughly), they'd get $50 million of it back.  I guess that's another $1,950,000,000 to go before any actual profit.

That' not profit.  That's massive losses.  That's zero ROI.  And that's assuming there were one million to start with, each unique, all of them actually paying for Live and not getting it free with some deal.  
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Offline Syl

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RE: 1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #11 on: July 17, 2004, 10:49:59 PM »
I still think its a rather impressive statistic.  regardless of the losses.  
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Offline Syl

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RE:1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #12 on: July 17, 2004, 10:51:37 PM »
Quote

Originally posted by: Xenplan
Longtime reader/lurker, but I can be of assistance in regards to sales data.

http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~hokora/gcrank.html

The sources of the chart are of NPD and Famitsu, so I believe it's accurate.  You can also view sales data of the other consoles including  GBA near the bottom


Thats very strange, according to NPD windwaker sold over 3 million last year, in america alone.

Why are the numbers on this thing so much lower?
...

Offline Mario

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RE: 1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #13 on: July 18, 2004, 01:19:50 AM »
3 million? Where the hell did you read that? That's ridiculous.

Offline soulfate

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RE:1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #14 on: July 18, 2004, 03:46:07 AM »
Oh, right, I get ya Deguello. I thought you meant they were offering the service for free...

Offline Mumei

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RE:1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #15 on: July 18, 2004, 04:02:03 AM »
Quote

Originally posted by: Syl
Quote

Originally posted by: Xenplan
Longtime reader/lurker, but I can be of assistance in regards to sales data.

http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~hokora/gcrank.html

The sources of the chart are of NPD and Famitsu, so I believe it's accurate.  You can also view sales data of the other consoles including  GBA near the bottom


Thats very strange, according to NPD windwaker sold over 3 million last year, in america alone.

Why are the numbers on this thing so much lower?


Um... Because they are more accurate.  TWW broke about 3.3 or 3.4 million worldwide.  It sold absolutely terribly in comparison to OoT...


Offline Bill Aurion

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RE:1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #16 on: July 18, 2004, 06:33:14 AM »
Quote

Originally posted by: Mario
3 million? Where the hell did you read that? That's ridiculous.

Oh...

"It sold absolutely terribly in comparison to OoT..."

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Offline thecubedcanuck

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RE: 1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #17 on: July 18, 2004, 02:22:53 PM »
I have no beef at all with paying to play console games online.

As for MS and their 2 billion dollar investment. It may yet pay off in the end, it may not. Thus is the nature of business. He who takes no risks will never know the true meaning of success.
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Offline mouse_clicker

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RE:1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #18 on: July 18, 2004, 02:46:41 PM »
He who takes too many risks will be leaving out of a cardboard box. Throwing money away needlessly is not good business, despite what catchy little proverbs say. If it's true MS really did sink $2 billion into XBox Live (sounds a bit outrageous), then I don't see how anyone can just shrug it off as "the nature of business"- losing that much money is just plain stupidity. Microsoft didn't become as rich as they are today by throwing away billions of dollars. I understand what you're saying, cubed, and agree with it, but I don't think it quite applies in this situation.
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Offline thecubedcanuck

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RE: 1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #19 on: July 18, 2004, 02:57:03 PM »
"If it's true MS really did sink $2 billion into XBox Live"

not just live, the x-box project as a whole.

MS is starting to succeed with x-box IMO, and I honestly think they could have a huge next gen as a result. Gates, love him or hate him, is a brilliant man who knows how to succeed when others think he cant.
Will MS re-coup the 2 billion, only time will tell. For all we know it may be a 20 year timetable for a return on investment to them.
I for one would not bet against MS.  
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Offline mouse_clicker

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RE:1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #20 on: July 18, 2004, 03:41:09 PM »
I for one will bet against MS- I don't think they'll make the $2 billion back, not close to it. I don't think they really care at this point, though. Obviously they'll work on making the next console more profitable (or profitable period), but I don't see MS making their investment back this generation.  
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Offline manunited4eva22

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RE:1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #21 on: July 18, 2004, 03:55:16 PM »
Cubed, you of all people should know that the initial investment will probably never be recouped. If they are to make a profit, it will be a very modest one, and will be on that console alone, not on the xbox line.

Offline Deguello

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RE: 1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #22 on: July 18, 2004, 07:34:11 PM »
I can use a similar spin tactic and say that GBA-GC connectivity is wildly popular because I know for a fact more than 3 million games have been sold that use it.
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Offline thecubedcanuck

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RE: 1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #23 on: July 19, 2004, 10:34:17 AM »
"but I don't see MS making their investment back this generation. "

nor do I. I am guessing profitability may have a 20 year timetable in the video game market for them. I am guessing a number closer to 10 years would be correct.

Like it or not, online console play is catching on, even if people must pay for it. The trick to all out acceptance will be making it as simple as connecting the console to the TV.
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Offline ThePerm

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RE:1 Million People Are Using Xbox Live
« Reply #24 on: July 19, 2004, 11:05:07 AM »
if it were me id just put resturaunts and billboards in the game and advertisers could pay the online bill. Just think Network television is free.
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