Microsoft: 68% Of Xbox Live Gold Subs Purchased From Retail

Microsoft has revealed that over two thirds of Xbox Live Gold subscriptions are bought at retail, rather than through the online Xbox Live service. The company told news site MCV that 68 percent of subscriptions for the Xbox 360 online service are purchased via retailers. Robin Burrowes, marketing manager for Xbox Live, explained that Microsoft is "very respectful" of retail, and currently has no future plans to release Xbox 360 titles both at retail and digitally at the same time. This contrasts with Sony's recent announcement that all titles for PlayStation Vita will be downloadable through the PlayStation Store, making it the first dedicated video game console to do so. "We are very respectful of the retail environment, in that we have a window between the release of a retail game and the digital one," Burrowes explained. "There’s no immediate plans to change that." "We are continuing to talk to retail in different ways. We are looking to introduce new digital innovations to drive more business. We’ve been testing electronic software distribution in a couple of places." "We will be testing point-of-sale activation, which is similar to buying cards in store and being able to redeem that code at the point of purchase. We are introducing new digital tokens and are working very closely with retailers," he concluded.