powerpoint

An investigation into xbox live and the impact on people’s lives:




What impact does xbox 360 have on peoples lives:


It is ‘One of the most powerful advertising platforms available today, Xbox LIVE reaches more men ages 18-34 than The New York Times, ESPN.com, or Men’s Health.1 Additionally, with more family-friendly games like Guitar Hero and Netflix movies downloads, Xbox LIVE is broadening its audience base.’
2) a) Xbox LIVE has over 23 million members worldwide.1
b) Twenty-six percent of Xbox LIVE subscribers have household incomes greater than $50,000 USD
3) My secondary research has also found that microsoft have managed to catagorise people into 6 different types of gamer, Power gamer, social gamer, leisure gamer, dormant gamer, incidental gamer and occasional gamer.
(http://advertising.microsoft.com/gaming/xbox-live)

The 6 types of gamers:

6 different types of gamers
- “Power gamers” represent 11 percent of the gamer market but account for 30 cents of every dollar spent on retail and online games.
- “Social gamers,” 13 percent of the market, enjoy gaming as a way to interact with friends.
- “Leisure gamers,” 14 percent of the market, spend 58 hours per month playing games but mainly on casual titles. Nevertheless they prefer challenging titles and show high interest in new gaming services.
- “Dormant gamers,” 26 percent of the market, love gaming but spend little time because of family, work, or school. They like to play with friends and family and prefer complex and challenging games.
- “Incidental gamers,” 12 percent of the market, lack motivation and play games mainly out of boredom. However, they spend more than 20 hours a month playing online games.
“Occasional gamers,” 24 percent of the market, play puzzle, word, and board games almost exclusively.
This helps explain who the various types of target audience are and how the gaming industry tries to meet this demand.
www.techmeme.com/100326/p4

What my research has found:

1: most people who play xbox 360 spend most of their time playing games online.
2: most people play on the xbox 360 console for between 7-12 hours a week which breaks down to 1/14 (7%) of their time in a week spent on xbox live.
3: What improvements could be made to xbox live to make it a better experience?
4: everyone who thinks that the xbox 360 has changed their life say it is for the better. My research shows that half the people on xbox think it has effected their lives in a large way the other half don’t think it has
5: almost everyone agrees that the xbox live upgrades that have been made to xbox live since it was first launched have greatly improved the gameplay and connectablility


most people who play xbox 360 spend most of their time playing games online.:

7 out of 10 from my survey play xbox live online more than anything else.
Half my focus group also agreed with this and my interview also backs up this point.
most do it because they like to play with other people online and play a different gaming experience
Overall this cements the idea that the gaming industry is putting more money into online gaming abilities, my secondary research has shown the difference in expenditure in 2005 compared to 2010 Console online game software 2005 $0.26 billion Console online game software 2010 $2.95 billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 62.5% (http://theschwartz.wordpress.com/2006/10/09/shifting-gaming-demographics/)


What improvements could be made to xbox live to make it a better experience?:
1) the focus group all bar 1 agreed that xbox live needed to be free.
the 3 most popular improvments from the focus group and survey, from biggest to smallest: free xbox live, faster gameplay and turnover times and better miis avalible with a wider range of clothing ( make your xbox more personalised).
This is what both my survey and focus group said however microsoft have different ideas on the future of gaming, with an intergrated phone that can sync with your xbox all over the world
since the time of all the research undertaken was finished and the time of this being produced the kinetic has come out for Xbox allowing people to play games without a controller.


everyone who thinks that the xbox 360 has changed their life say it is for the better. :

1) From my survey i discovered that half the people who play on xbox say it has changed their life for the better, while the other half says it has not really effected their lives at all, while in my focus group 75% said it had changed their lives for the better while one person said it had not changed their life at all.
2) All bar 1 person from my survey like the various upgrades that xbox live has had made to it over the years, including the creation of mii’s and xbox live parties and the ability to constantly update the video games that are played either online or offline.
3) Most people feel that it has only benifited their lives, in the focus group they said that it helps them to make friends and be more social.
4) Of that 7% of time spent the majority of people on xbox live play fps’s (first person shooters) shortly followed by rpg’s and a wide variety of other game formats.
5) most people play on the xbox 360 console for between 7-12 hours a week which breaks down to 1/14 (7%) of their time in a week spent on xbox live.


almost everyone agrees that the xbox live upgrades that have been made to xbox live since it was first launched have greatly improved the gameplay and connectablility:

1) : Microsoft had obtained 150,000 users in the first week that played 5,000,000 games that first week, and logged over 1,000,000 hours of game play within the first week as well.
1) The Xbox 360 incorporated a new software into their consoles which is called true skill, this allows people to play against people of very similar gaming skills and is up to 89% accurate on who will win which fight based on the players performance, requiring only 4 to 5 games played before it can work it out. This allows for a much more competitive game play, allowing you to fight against people of virtually the same skill as you.
2) 9/10 people in my survey agree that the additions made to Xbox live are great improvements
These all reinforce the idea that the game industry has come a long way since the first launching of Xbox live in 2000. It also shows that Microsoft is doing a good job as 9 out of 10 people like it. However this is not definitive and needs further research.


The future of Xbox Live:

My secondary research has found that the future of xbox 360 is:
N.B. During the time period that I have researched this topic the xbox kinetc has been brought out by microsoft, allowing people to play without a controller.
ESPN channel will allow for live and on-demand streaming of up to 3,500 sporting events (Available in US only).
Hulu Plus service will offer commercially-supported streaming video of television shows and movies from networks such as NBC, Fox and ABC (Available in US only).
Windows Phone 7 integration, in a recent live chat Larry Hryb outlined some key features of Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7. These include ability to be signed in simultaneously on the console and phone, send and receive messages between console and phone, unique gamer points only available by purchasing the gaming title on the phone, etc.
Due to the nature of the gaming industry most companies are not happy about putting online all of their future developments so my research in places is lacking as the information is not available for anyone to access.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_Live