Network Vital to Xbox Success

Microsoft will launch Xbox Live, a virtual private network for playing Xbox games over the Internet, in autumn 2002. The company believes Xbox Live will help sell more Xbox games, increase the number of Xbox users, and present opportunities to sell related services, such as broadband Internet access and prepaid game cards. Competitors Sony and Nintendo are also taking steps to online-enable their consoles, but Microsoft believes its US$1 billion marketing and infrastructure investment will help it attract gamers and third-party manufacturers more quickly.

Features and Launch Plans

Microsoft unveiled details of Xbox Live at the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) trade show in May 2002.

The service will be open to any Xbox user with cable or DSL broadband Internet access (but not ISDN or satellite) and will support at least five multiplayer games at launch (four of which will be created by Microsoft Game Studios). Sixty other companies have also committed to making games for it. Microsoft expects 50 online titles to be available by the end of 2003, including an online version of Microsoft’s “Halo” (the most popular game for the Xbox so far, with more than a million copies sold) and LucasArts’ “Star Wars Galaxies” (which will also be online-enabled for Sony’s PlayStation 2).