Xbox Live Gold Subscribers Average 3 Hours Per Day On Service

Microsoft has claimed that Gold subscribers to the corporation's Xbox Live average three hours per day on the online service. Addressing the BMO Capital Markets Annual Digital Entertainment Conference in New York yesterday, Dennis Durkin, COO and CFO of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business, said that 40 percent of that time was spent using non-gaming services such as Last.fm. More than half of Xbox Live’s 25 million users are paying subscribers, Durkin said at the event (as reported by Joystiq). “Those are very, very engaged customers, which is good business," he added. In a speech further covered by Gamasutra yesterday, Durkin also announced that Xbox Live's digital transactions business -- downloadable content, XBLA games and Games on Demand -- is now larger than its subscriptions business. Content is the key driver to Xbox Live's success, he said, so "obviously, the majority of the revenue that we get in this segment of our business, we share with our partners."