Meta Data: Xbox’s New Clothes
With Sony’s social networking platform, Home, set to launch in beta Thursday, Microsoft has displayed impeccable timing in reminding everyone that it already has a robust 14 million-member online community on its Xbox 360 console.
It is no surprise that a cleaner, friendlier and better organized marketplace has spurred the sale of downloadable content. Greenberg says it’s a sign that the NXE’s new social features (avatars and a "party mode" that keeps players together as they move from game to game) appeal to mainstream consumers.
On average, movie downloads increased by 49% and television show downloads increased by 30% the week after the launch of the NXE. The sale of Xbox Live Arcade games tripled. And sales of "UNO"–a game released in 2006 and recently retrofitted to include Xbox’s new avatars–jumped by 650% the day after the NXE launch.
