Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue

X
News

Xbox Live Sales Rake In Over $1 Billion

by Matt Bertz on Jul 07, 2010 at 06:47 AM

You guys must really love dressing your Avatars in funky new clothes. Bloomberg is reporting today that sales on Microsoft's digital marketplace have "probably broke the $1 billion revenue mark for the first time in the year that just ended."

These ginormous sales were no doubt helped by the increase in movies and music available on the Zune service, Modern Warfare 2 map packs, and the stream of impressive downloadable arcade titles. When you're looking at a steady cash stream like this, it makes more sense why publishers are willing to sell the consoles below cost. Having the best online service doesn't hurt when attracting new gamers, either.

"Xbox Live has helped sell a lot of consoles and created a lot of loyalty,” Matt Rosoff, a Directions on Microsoft, told Bloomberg. “Everyone has been talking about Microsoft’s inability to innovate, but this is a pretty good example where they have innovated. They timed it just right with this one.”

Xbox Live's future looks even brighter with the pending ESPN deal, the Hulu Plus subscription service, and the ability to navigate without at controller thanks to Natal. What other kind of features would keep you coming back to the service?