This is the first time that the service has burst that financial barrier, and it's all thanks to your dollars, so pat yourself on the back for helping corporations be more corporate! In a recent Bloomberg report, Microsoft claims that around 12.5 million people like you are now paying annual Gold membership dues, amounting to about $600 million of the cash made by June 30.
But it was downloadable media like movies, avatar clothing, game content, and TV shows, that put Microsoft's service over the one billion mark. In fact, Xbox COO Dennis Durkin suggests the service has hit around $1.2 billion in the last fiscal year.
While the benchmark is interesting and all, those engineers and corporate types aren't going to just sit back on comfy leather recliners, smoke big cigars, and laugh brassy laughs with a hint of greed. Durkin is telling Bloomberg that more stuff is on the way, as the old model of "set it and forget it" is dead.
== TEASER ==“The old playbook of ‘launch and leave’ is a relic of the past,” Durkin says. “Today with Xbox Live, it’s now about ‘launch, sustain, retain’ by continually adding new content that enhances the original experience.”
And as you might know, Destination Arcade, ESPN, Hulu, and new UI features via Kinect are all coming to Xbox Live within the near future. These are all new things created sustain Live and keep us online and in some sort of consumer mode.
Considering the grip that services like Live have on some players, and the fact that publishers like EA and THQ are starting to step up their downloadable game game, I'm willing to guess, without my tinfoil hat, that Xbox Live is poised to make even more in this fiscal year. My estimate? Two billion. Wait, no, four billion! Mark that down somewhere, preferably on a napkin that you'd throw away and forget about. I ain't no analyst.
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