Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. Guides

Xbox Live marks 10-year anniversary with its busiest week ever

Rick Marshall
By

The release of Halo 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops II just days apart created a “perfect storm” of online gaming that resulted in the busiest week ever for Microsoft’s Xbox Live service — and it’s only fitting, given that the service launched 10 years ago today.

Now numbering over 40 million members, Xbox Live hosted a record-breaking 442 hours of online gaming in the period between November 6 and November 13, according to an open letter from Xbox Live Corporate Vice President Marc Whitten celebrating the service’s 10-year anniversary.

Recommended Videos

“I’m proud to announce that during the week of Nov. 6-13, our members spent more time on Xbox LIVE (gaming and watching entertainment) than any other week in the history of our service: a total of 442 million hours,” writes Whitten. “And Halo 4, which broke entertainment industry numbers, resulted in the LIVE community unlocking 43 million achievements in just the first five days of gameplay.”

Related

Whitten goes on to report that 9.4 million people participate in multiplayer gaming on Xbox LIVE each week, and nearly 14.5 billion Achievements have been unlocked worldwide since the service launched. For those keeping score, that’s a Gamerscore of around 270 billion.

Yesterday, we reported on Microsoft’s decision to send custom-designed Xbox 360s to Xbox Live subscribers who have been with the service for all of its ten years. Whitten spoke to those long-term subscribers in his open letter with a look back at how much the service has changed in the last decade, and a mention of where things are headed.

“For those of you who’ve been with us since the beginning, you might remember the introduction of online multiplayer, the blade design of the dashboard, Halo 2 on Xbox LIVE, the Xbox LIVE Arcade retail disc, or downloading your gamer pic and instant messaging with your friends for the first time.” he wrote. “Since those early days, Xbox LIVE has evolved at an amazing pace. We have scores of entertainment apps worldwide, we just added Internet Explorer to service and an all-new Sports destination . We’ve also gone far beyond the console with Xbox on Windows 8 and Xbox SmartGlass* on all your favorite devices.”

You can read the full text of Whitten’s open letter to Xbox Live subscribers at the official Xbox homepage.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Rick Marshall
Rick Marshall
Former Digital Trends Contributor
A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…
Your Xbox Live Gold subscription will turn into Xbox Game Pass Core this September
Xbox Game Pass Core's logo over a library of games.

Microsoft finally made the decision to move on from its monthly online-access subscription service Xbox Live Gold. On September 14, Xbox Live Gold will transform into Xbox Game Pass Core, with current Gold subscribers automatically gaining a Game Pass Core subscription.

An Xbox Live subscription tied to online play has existed in some form since Xbox Live launched in 2002, but Xbox Live Gold as we now know it truly came into form in July 2013 when Microsoft started the Games with Gold program that gave subscribers free games each month in addition to that online access. Although Microsoft rolled back some online restrictions in 2021, Games with Gold continues to this day. That will all end when Game Pass Core launches.

Read more
Xbox icon ‘Major Nelson’ is leaving the company after 20 years
Larry Hryb holding an Xbox microphone at an Xbox event.

Larry Hryb -- better-known to Xbox fans by his gamer tag Major Nelson, as the senior director of corporate communications for Xbox, and as host of the official Xbox podcast -- is moving on from his position at Microsoft.

Hryb worked at Xbox for two decades, starting as editor-in-chief of MSN Music before becoming a senior project manager at Xbox during the early days of the Xbox Live and Xbox 360 era. He gained the most notoriety for hosting a "Major Nelson Radio" podcast, which was one of the first to give players an inside look into game development and the people who make games. That transformed into the official Xbox Podcast, which Hryb hosted alongside other duties.
Before Phil Spencer, Hryb was the face of Xbox for a lot of people, so this is a pretty significant departure for Xbox, which is coming off an outstanding June 2023 showcase. Hryb explained his reasoning for his departure from Microsoft on Twitter.
"After 20 incredible years, I have decided to take a step back and work on the next chapter of my career," Hryb wrote. "As I take a moment and think about all we have done together, I want to thank the millions of gamers around the world who have included me as part of their lives. Also, thanks to Xbox team members for trusting me to have a direct dialogue with our customers. The future is bright for Xbox and, as a gamer, I am excited to see the evolution. Thank you and I’ll see you online."
Hryb went on to confirm that the Xbox Podcast will go on a hiatus following his departure, but says it will come back in a new format sometime in the future. He did not reveal more about what exactly that "next chapter" of his career is just yet.

Read more
Try these 2 indie greats before they leave Xbox Game Pass next week
An orb sits in an alien desert in Exo One.

I’m always excited for those two days every month when Xbox drops a blog post detailing the new additions coming to Game Pass. Even in slow months, there’s usually a hidden gem on there that I’m curious about digging into. Though as curious as I am about checking out what’s new, I often forget to scroll to the bottom and see what’s leaving the service. And just as there are a few standouts added to the service each month, Game Pass also tends to quietly lose just as many with each new batch.

That’s exactly the case this July. While the service gains Grand Theft Auto V and Exoprimal this month, it’s also losing two standout indies: Spelunky 2 and Exo One. If you’re looking for some games to play during a slow month for big releases, here’s why you should check out both before they leave the service on July 15.
Spelunky 2

Read more