Xbox 360 helping online growth, but still lagging miles behind PCs

Online console gaming is gaining ground on PC-based massively multi-player online role-playing games, but the sector is still lagging far behind, according to research by Point Topic.

"Online console numbers are still fairly small when you compare them to the installed bases of the big players, like World of Warcraft and the Lineage family, but they are closing the gap," said John Bosnell, senior analyst at Point Topic.

"Current estimates show around six million World of Warcraft subscribers against 750,000 Xbox 360 Live subscribers."

Microsoft's next-generation Xbox 360 console has prompted a rise in the number of console gamers venturing online.

Figures from Point Topic show that almost half of those who own an Xbox 360 have also subscribed to the Xbox Live online service.

That compares with fewer than 10 per cent of original Xbox customers who had a Live account.

"Given the greater popularity of online gaming with Xbox 360 users compared to first-generation Xbox users, we estimate that Xbox Live could add more than two million subscribers by the end of the second quarter of 2006, if the Xbox 360 continues to sell at current rates," said Bosnell.

Point Topic found that Xbox 360 owners with an Xbox Live account play online four or five times more often per week than Xbox Live subscribers on the first-generation machines.

"The next challenge is for the manufacturers to integrate the console more closely into people's homes," said Bosnell.

"These boxes have broadband modems and significant computing power, and they could be used to run applications other than gaming."