However gaming on Xbox 360 accounts for less than half of the activity on Xbox Live, as now users are ”keeping it on afterwards to get other types of entertainment,” like music and TV.
It seems Microsoft’s ”trojan horse” goal of using games to position the Xbox platform as a multimedia hub for the family is actually starting to pay off; it’s been an ‘amazing arc’.
”The original vision for the Xbox was for it to be the heart of connected digital entertainment and it has been amazing to watch the arc,” said Otto Berkes, SVP of consumer technology at HBO.
Over half the time spent on Xbox Live is now music and video related and not gaming. The average household spends 150 hours a month watching television by comparison. ”What we’re seeing is that people are turning on the Xbox to play games and then keeping it on afterwards to get other types of entertainment,” said Yusuf Mehdi.
Microsoft has steadily added new services to watch digital content such as Netflix, ESPN, Hulu, Vudu and even YouTube. The latest additions have been HBO Go, Major League Baseball and Comcast Corp’s Xfinity service. The total number of music, video and television services and applications now totals to 36.
Xbox Live commands over 20 million paying subscribers with over 66 million Xbox 360s sold worldwide.
