With news that Microsoft will be bringing Xbox Live to Windows 8 it got me thinking about what this could mean for Xbox Live and how it will change the service. Currently Xbox Live is available on the Xbox 360 and on Windows Phone, however they aren’t the same kind of service at all.
On the Xbox 360 one has to pay to use the service, on Windows Phone one does not. The fee may on Xbox 360 may be justifiable because subscribers get a lot more from Xbox Live on the console than they do on the phone. On the Xbox its possible to watch live TV, stream films, listen to music and even use social media. However, Xbox Live on the phone only offers gaming features such as achievements.
The images Microsoft has shown of Xbox Live for Windows 8 show that there will be more than just games and that it will be the place to go to for all entertainment types. Therefore this will provide an Xbox Live experience more like that of the console than that of the phone. The question that then needs to be asked is if Xbox Live on Windows 8 will then require a subscription just like the experience on the console.
I would guess not. People don’t currently have to pay a subscription to play games on Windows 8 (well unless that’s how the game works) and Microsoft will face a lot of competition from Steam that doesn’t charge a fee. Also people can easily just pay Netflix, etc on their PCs now without having to pay Microsoft for access to it. This makes me think that Xbox Live will be free on Windows 8, or at least offer some tiered system to allow users to pay for the extra services.
However users can access Xbox Live one thing is for sure and that’s that it will get a lot more attention from consumers and wannabe media partners. This makes me wonder just what kind of content will be accessible via the service. I would hope and expect that if there was a free element to the service that the BBC would very quickly put the iPlayer on the service. Sadly the BBC has never been a media partner for Xbox Live in the UK because of the way the license fee works (users can’t pay for BBC services other than the License fee and that’s what they would have to do to access the iPlayer on the Xbox after paying for the subscription).
If the iPlayer did come to Xbox Live it would be very exciting, especially considering how the BBC are making an international version of the iPlayer.
I am now very interested to hear more about Microsoft’s plans for Xbox Live on Windows 8. Yes it will be great for gaming but Xbox Live is so much more than gaming and it could easily be one of the main selling points for Windows 8.
