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20th July 2005:
Live Gets Twice The Life!
Xbox Live now has 2 million subscribers throughout the world, with no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Posted by Chris Barnett - Xbox - UK and Europe

Microsoft has today announced that the Xbox Live service now has 2 million members worldwide. This means that the number of subscribers has doubled in the past twelve months.

"Reaching the two million member milestone in such a short time speaks volumes about the depth and vibrancy of the Xbox Live community," said Robbie Bach, senior vice president of the Home and Entertainment Division and chief Xbox officer at Microsoft. "This enormous growth is a true testament to the compelling content and engaging experiences enabled through Xbox Live today. The service is inspired by the creative power of the individual and fuelled by the passion of a worldwide community."

This is looking very good for the launch of the Xbox 360 in the autumn (which we must reiterate, has no confirmed release date yet) since the Xbox Live service is easily transferred between the new systems and existing Xboxes. That places the 2 million subscribers in a false sense of loyalty. Although they are not obliged to buy an Xbox 360 and continue to use Xbox Live, the sheer nature of continuality will pressure many into doing so.

This can only be good for the next generation of videogames and for those who constantly claim that 'online is the future'. We here at Silicon Fusion refuse to insist that online is the future just yet, with quality single player games that are surfacing in the current generation proving that not every game needs a multiplayer mode. In the near future we will run a feature on online gaming and when it is necessarily a good thing (as opposed to a 'latch on' feature), but we will admit, for the moment, that 2 million is more Xbox Live than we expected at this stage in Microsoft's console life.

Chris Barnett

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