Electronictheatre
Following the rush of figures revealed by Microsoft’s Chief Executive Office, Steve Ballmer, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last week, more details on the success of the Xbox LIVE service have come to light today. As part of an update for advertisers interested in working with Microsoft, Mark Kroese, General Manager of the Advertising Business Group in the Entertainment & Devices Division, has stated that, “Cumulatively, Xbox LIVE users are logging over 1 billion hours a month on the service.”Last week it was revealed that the Xbox LIVE online gaming and social network now has more than thirty million registered subscribers. A considerable feat, especially considering that just eighteen months ago, according to Krose, the Xbox LIVE membership stood at just twenty million. That’s a fifty per cent increase in from mid-2009 to early 2011.
Of course, there are many reasons that such an increase could have occurred, from the continuingly lowering price of the Xbox 360 console to the more widespread adoption of broadband internet connections. Additionally, the launch of new features on Xbox LIVE and the release of Kinect could well have attributed to the increase, not least with the Video Kinect system allowing easy-to-use video conferencing from the couch.Whether or not Microsoft will be able to replicate this success in the next twelve months remains to be seen, as currently very little is known about their plans for the Xbox 360 system and Xbox LIVE network beyond early 2011. Electronic Theatre will of course keep you updated with all the latest details on both the Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE.
http://www.electronictheatre.co.uk/index.php/xbox360/xbxo360-news/6937-xbox-live-users-log-over-1-billion-hours-a-month
