A Decade of Xbox Live

Last week marked the 10 year anniversary of Xbox Live and sprouted various articles about the effect it has had on the industry today and how this has strengthened the consoles we use.

When the original Xbox released 10 years ago no-one could really foresee the effect it would have on the industry and how it would push other hardware to the edge. It released against an already successful platform in the shape of the PlayStation 2 but given the online capabilities of Live the hardware still managed to establish itself as a premiere service without much competition to grade itself against. It was a risky move for Microsoft, not just because of the established console competition, but also because the broadband industry was being used by less than 5% of UK residents. Its biggest selling point aside from its games was its online functionality and in most respects this was far ahead of the curve.

As the generation was exhausted Microsoft sent out its 360 console ahead of the competition in order to grow its coverage and utilise the expanding online services being taken up by the general public. As the Live community grew the word of mouth advertising pushed even more people over to the console, by the time Sony brought out its new hardware, this made Microsoft the behemoth of the industry. The push for online functionalities meant that Sony aggressively forced themselves into the same market, creating the PlayStation Network being used today.

While it is widely know that the PlayStation Network isn’t as robust as the Xbox service, the origin of the services is in whole due to the success of Microsoft’s product. As Sony watch Microsoft push ahead to extend their online services a few years ago, the Japanese hardware specialist decided to attempt to follow suite. They both added a host of new features with the idea that an online service on a gaming console extended beyond the ability to just play games. Sony added the online social hub, Home, with a free friends system and Microsoft guided down the pay monthly route.

With Microsoft's paid subscription option they have once again raised the bar - and the fee for using this only allows them to pump more money into their growing ecosystem. Sony just don’t have the level of experience or the infrastructure to compete, even now.

The addition of Achievements back at the beginning of the 360 lifecycle gave people even more reason to stay with the console. The more purchases you made online and the more achievement you racked up the more you became invested in the path of Microsoft. Once again Sony found themselves itching to keep people playing on their system and out came the Trophy service. Again no innovation from the competition, Sony delivered a product idea almost exactly the same as the one offered by the Microsoft hardware. The XBLA players are likely to have gaming friends who he/she will want to play with and therefore pester them into getting on board with the same system.

The genius of Xbox Live, and the core reason why Microsoft have overtaken Sony in the worldwide market is their innovation and their excellent ideas when improving their online services. Halo 2 pushed the boundaries of the multiplayer content back on the original system and Halo 3 did the same on the 360. They also push the COD series and although Sony tried to replicate that success they never quite had the killer results they would have liked.

The questions now is with this console generation drawing to a close are Sony able to push their offerings and overtake Microsoft again? The line is pretty close and the user-bases on both systems is in an almost negligible difference now.

A more digital era is upon us and the changes in hardware will mean that players have less physical ties to the services they currently use. As everyone moves over to cloud based content, the propositions for physical content will be slimmer and the new attachments create with the hardware will be even higher.

The biggest benefit for Microsoft’s next hardware will be the biggest selling point for Sony’s online services currently, XBL is paid and the PSN is a free service. When the services become more and more entwined with the cloud offerings the services will have to be on a subscription and Xbox users are already accustomed to the bill. Sony will now need to target how they will get the market of consumers paying for a service that they currently get for free.

Microsoft bank around a billion every year simply from these subscriptions and the groundwork means that people will be even less willing to jump ship when they know how much they’ve invested. Sony users are looking towards their implementation of the PlayStation Plus but lets face it – and this isn’t fanboy beliefs, the facts are there – Microsoft’s ideas have always been ahead of the curve and Sony seem to follow suit. I can’t see that changing anytime soon and no matter who is released by with Windows manufacturer it makes sense to think that it’ll be the same route taken by Sony and not the other way around. Don’t get my wrong though the PlayStation Plus is a great way to onboard subscribers and should build a decent following over time.

Either way online gaming has become the go to place for content offerings and with its exceptional benefits it really does show that Xbox Live has given us the landscape we see and use today both on Sony and Microsoft hardware.

Are you currently an XBL gold member? If so, how long have you been with them? If both Sony and Microsoft charged for their service, whose service would you choose? Let us know in the comments, or by tweeting me at the usual place.