Starter kits for the Xbox Live online gaming service have gone on sale in eight European countries. Microsoft and Xbox game vendors hope that the service will boost game sales per console, the primary factor in the console's long-term profitability, by delivering unique game content and facilitating head-to-head game play.

Like the North American version of the service (launched Nov. 2002), the European Xbox Live service will offer downloadable content (such as new game scenarios) and a set of communication services to help game players come together, including matchmaking to locate players, a unique player ID ("gamertag"), the ability to check when friends are online, and voice communication between players. Customers buy a starter kit that includes a one-year subscription, connectivity software, a microphone-headset kit for voice communication, and a package of bundled games (which vary from country to country) that support online play. Users must have high-speed cable or DSL Internet access. Broadband Internet service providers supporting users of the service include BT Online (United Kingdom), T-Online (Germany), and Wanadoo (France). Starter kits retail for roughly the price of an Xbox game, estimated at €59.99 or £39.99

Microsoft hopes the service's European debut will mimic the success of the North American and Japanese versions of the service, which had collected 350,000 users as of Mar. 2003, twice what Microsoft had expected. That number compares well with the 1 million network adapters Sony says it has sold for its PlayStation 2, considering that Sony's console has a much larger installed base (50 million versus Xbox's less than 10 million), and that Sony's adapter went on sale earlier (Sept. 2002 versus Nov. 2002). However, Xbox Live's ultimate success is measured not by the number of users but its effect on the all-important "attach rate": games sold per console. That in turn will determine whether the service ever can pay back Microsoft's considerable investment in console hardware and back-end infrastructure to support online gaming. (See "Network Vital to Xbox Success" on page 15 of the July 2002 Update.)

For further information on Xbox Live, see www.xbox.com/live. (Use the "country" menu at the upper right to get information for specific regions.)