I have a lot of questions and I'm curious how the whole Xbox Live service 'works'.   Can someone inform me some behind the doors stuff about the relationship between MS & 3rd parties regarding online content???

What does the money from Xbox live subscription being used for?  I'm under the impression that MS provides some kind of assistance to 3rd parties if their game features online downloadable content, online multiplayer, etc.  Does MS provide(rent?) them dedicated servers (or webspace?)?  Or do 3rd parties have to boot up their own servers and management? 

What about Sony?  Does Sony provide anything to 3rd parties for them?  3rd parties are on their own when it comes to providing online play?

The servers are a free service of MS to the parties as far as I know, as the $3 gold fee covers these costs. MS also provides technical support for the XBL system to the devs, for a nominal (or free) fee.

Basically, MS takes care of it all, except for what the devs want to do.

thanks for the reply mrstickball!

So MS has a established a welcoming environment for 3rd parties online service. Good to know the Xbox Live Gold fees users pay gets used to support 3rd parties.

Does Sony provide service to 3rd parties like MS?
The PS3 doesn't require any additional online fee like Live Gold which is a plus for end users but can this become a negative factor for 3rd parties and possible Sony themselves? They have to keep up server costs from their own pockets right?