Given the number of users and $50-a-year subscription fee, it's hardly a surprise that Microsoft is pulling in a ton of cash from
Xbox Live, but it looks like the service has recently crossed a significant milestone: the $1 billion mark. That's what
Bloomberg estimates for the past fiscal year, at least, based on the number of paid users (about 12.5 million), and a recent statement from Microsoft's Dennis Durkin, who said that sales of downloadable content had topped subscription revenue for the first time. That translates to about $600 million from subscription revenue, and
at least $600 million from other sales, for a grand total somewhere north of $1.2 billion. Can't really blame Sony for
following its lead, can you?
Update: Credit where credit is due -- turns out
Forbes also arrived at
similar numbers back during E3. It "conservatively estimates" that Microsoft raked in $625 million selling downloadable content in the past year, resulting in more than $1.25 billion in total revenue.