Xbox Live has over 20 million active members and Xbox 360 sales topped 30 million worldwide, Microsoft boasted in a press release today.
Microsoft is calling 2008 the biggest year in Xbox 360 history and said percentage growth so far this year is ahead of Sony and Nintendo. Most interesting, though, is this 20 million figure for Xbox Live membership, which spans 26 countries.
Before pointing to this as rock-hard evidence in support of paid online gaming, consider that Microsoft is very careful in how it words the press release. The company does not use the word "subscriptions" in describing Xbox Live figures, presumably because a lot of those members are using a free Silver-level membership, rather than the $50 per year Gold membership.
The press release doesn't break down Xbox Live members into Silver and Gold levels. I've reached out to a Microsoft spokesman, but I'm not expecting any detailed figures because I can't find any past instances of Microsoft providing them.
Still, the growth of Xbox Live as a whole is impressive. Since launching the New Xbox Experience -- a re-skinned user interface with some new features, including Netflix streaming -- membership increased 136 percent, and purchases of game add-ons and Xbox Live Arcade games jumped by 70 percent, Microsoft said.
This is all a bit of chest-pumping ahead of E3 next week. I'm sure we'll hear these figures reiterated at the show, hopefully along with some announcements of substance for gamers.
