XBox One and 360 Ownership and Usage Stats

June 6, 2017 12:32 PM

Microsoft's Xbox API reveals a wealth of data about users identified via Gamertag. ArsTechnica built a list of 74 million Gamertags and randomly sampled from them to reveal a wealth of information about online Xbox One and 360 users.

Some of the results:

• 29.8 of Xbox One time spent by sampled Gamertags is from using a video service like Netflix, YouTube or some other "TV" app, and another 14.1% is spent using other non-game apps. Only 54.7% of time spent is from playing Xbox One games. Xbox 360 backward compatibility games only consumed 1.5% of tag play time.
• Xbox 360 tag time is even more heavily skewed towards non-game uses, at over 60% of time by Gamertag.
• Most popular (by apps used) non-game apps on Xbox One: My games & apps, Store, Netflix, YouTube, Edge (web browser), TV usage (through HDMI input), Blu-ray Player, Hulu, Twitch, Films & TV (0.57%)
• Most popular non-game apps used by mean minutes of usage time: Netflix (251.9 minutes) is first, followed by TV and YouTube at 102 and 101 minutes respectively.
• Top Xbox One games played by mean minutes during sample period: Battlefield 1, FIFA 17, Grant Theft Auto V, NBA 2K17 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Top Xbox 360 games played by mean minutes: Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Grand Theft Auto V, Call of Duty Black Ops, Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition, Modern Warfare 3. Minecraft was 16th place on Xbox One's list and 4th place on Xbox 360's list. Skyrim SE was 15th place on Xbox One's list while Skyrim was 6th place on Xbox 360's list.

There's lots more interesting data and interpretation of it at the link.

posted by JHarris (57 comments total)

PS4 has way more A+ exclusive games right now, but this is interesting.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 12:54 PM on June 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

They say right up front in the article that they'd do this for PlayStation 4 too, but this kind of information just isn't available on PS4 users.
posted by JHarris at 12:57 PM on June 6, 2017

I can't remember the last time I even turned on my 360, but there was at least a year or two where the only thing I used it for was watching Netflix, so this checks out.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:58 PM on June 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'm surprised it's only 29.8%.

I use my 360 for Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and YouTube. I think I've only played online for about ten minutes total, during which I was murdered 12 times, and that was about three years ago.
posted by mochapickle at 1:03 PM on June 6, 2017

I'm done with Microsoft. I went from my 360 right into PC Gaming because I was tired of console limitations. There are a number of Playstation exclusive games that I'd consider going back to a console for, but as of yet the price point is still too high for me to rationalize that for those handful of games.

I switched to PC about 1.5 years ago and I've not really looked back. Steam sales are a regular thing and I've saved so much money on gaming in this way.
posted by Fizz at 1:03 PM on June 6, 2017 [5 favorites]

They say right up front in the article that they'd do this for PlayStation 4 too, but this kind of information just isn't available on PS4 users

I'm going to count that as a feature, not a bug.
posted by NoxAeternum at 1:04 PM on June 6, 2017 [14 favorites]

This reminds me of that period when Bill Gates was obsessed with Microsoft controlling the "convergence device" in every family household. In some ways, the console is the perfect candidate for the old version of this idea, except that it turns out we don't really want to converge: we want to stare at our own tiny, personal screens. Meanwhile, shareholders want MS to dump the Xbox division. Life comes at you fast.
posted by selfnoise at 1:08 PM on June 6, 2017

PS4 has way more A+ exclusive games right now, but this is interesting.

Makes me think back to when the two consoles were announced. Microsoft was all like "here is your ultimate living room convergence device that also does games" and Sony was like "here is your next-gen awesome game experience."

And I'm right where Fizz is, I switched to PC instead of going with the latest gen console and I'm very happy with it ... but I'll get a PS4 eventually to play Horizon Zero Dawn.
posted by Sauce Trough at 1:17 PM on June 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

but I'll get a PS4 eventually to play Horizon Zero Dawn.

You forgot Persona 5 and The Last Guardian.
posted by Fizz at 1:25 PM on June 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

I have a GamerTag. No XBox, but a GamerTag.

This is what I got for wanting to play Borderlands local coop with my little brother...
posted by Samizdata at 1:25 PM on June 6, 2017

We bought an xbox 360 primarily as a combo netflix box and dvd player. It works grand. I don't think we've played a game on it once. Though I am tempted by Red Dead Redemption.
posted by bonehead at 1:35 PM on June 6, 2017

This reminds me of our old Wii, which would tell you right on the homescreen how much time you were spending on various things. "DBX played Super Mario Galaxy for 134 Minutes" and so on. Such a great way to feel bad about my choices. I like this better, because now I can say "At least it wasn't CODBLOPS" or whatever murder simulator du jour!

Also, I've always wondered what people use console browsers for. I've tried once or twice, when there was no other option, and it was a really poor experience.
posted by dbx at 1:41 PM on June 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Also, I've always wondered what people use console browsers for.

Quite a lot of porn (no naughty pictures, some naughty words), apparently.
posted by figurant at 1:45 PM on June 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

Do it, bonehead. Maybe my favorite game ever.
posted by booooooze at 1:54 PM on June 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

There are quite a few caveats in TFA about the types of "players" who may be over- or under-sampled. For instance recent new gamertags (since 2015) with zero friends are not in the data: "Xbox Live users with fewer friends are less likely to be added to our database, for instance, and users with literally zero friends have no chance of being sampled". I have zero (gamertag) friends and have never done anything with my 360 or One except play games.

I mention this because they report such precise numbers (three significant digits!) yet leave out huge swaths of users/owners who likely use their consoles quite differently that the sampled cohort.

And also since I got a PS4 (Uncharted!) I almost never turn the 360/One on.
posted by achrise at 1:54 PM on June 6, 2017 [6 favorites]

We bought an xbox 360 primarily as a combo netflix box and dvd player. It works grand. I don't think we've played a game on it once. Though I am tempted by Red Dead Redemption.

You misspelled Skyrim. :D
posted by Fizz at 1:55 PM on June 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

Our xBox is on for about an hour every day, on Netflix or Amazon Video while I'm on the treadmill in the AM. I haven't played a game in 5+ years on it, and my gamer son has even gone 100% PC. I can't remember the last time I saw him playing a game on the xBox.
posted by COD at 2:03 PM on June 6, 2017

Guys, sell your Xboxes and get a Roku Streaming Stick! You might even clear some profit.

I honestly feel bad that you all have to suffer through the bloated interfaces on these things just to watch Stranger Things.
posted by selfnoise at 2:08 PM on June 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

Guys, sell your Xboxes and get a Roku Streaming Stick! You might even clear some profit.

Or a Chromecast or a Fire TV stick or just about anything really.

Like if all you want to do is watch Netflix you can do that for $30 vs $250 for an Xbox.
posted by GuyZero at 2:15 PM on June 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

You misspelled Skyrim.

At 720p? What am I, a farmer?
posted by bonehead at 2:27 PM on June 6, 2017 [13 favorites]

About the backward compatibility thing: the thing that disappoints me most about the Nintendo 3DS backward compatibility for DS games is that it disables the StreetPass feature. I get a small amount of enjoyment from seeing what other people in airports and train stations are playing, and sharing that tiny bit of info with others. It's not nearly as much fun playing weird old DS games in public without it. The Playstation Vita behaves similarly when playing PSP games, though their Near feature was never very fun for this stuff.

(Though I guess now that I've finally gotten all the StreetPass puzzle pieces and Nintendo's not doing StreetPass with the Switch, I should just give up on this for good.)

Don't have anything much relevant to say about the XBox-specific stuff, though, sold the 360 over 5 years ago, since there just wasn't much on it I cared about playing.
posted by asperity at 2:33 PM on June 6, 2017

I just bought a new 4k screen and while I was shopping around I noticed that you can't buy one without a browser and streaming. 'Smart' TVs. The remote has a little rubber qwerty keyboard on the back. At the same time I bought a geforce 1080 to take advantage of the 4k, so those features are never going to be used.

Of course, that upgrade cost more than my first car. If your xbox does the trick with a dumb TV, enjoy!
posted by adept256 at 2:34 PM on June 6, 2017

CODBLOPS

CODBLOPS!

What a console browser is great for is YouTube Potluck. Everyone contributes a funny video or two. A right jolly old time.

(CODBLOPS!)
posted by JHarris at 2:40 PM on June 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

I use my XB1 for almost everything --- video, games, etc. Only fall back to PS4 for the rare game thats (a) worth playing and (b) not on XB1 (so far thats a grand total of 2: Persona 5 and World of Final Fantasy). Mostly because the Elite controller is leagues beyond the PS4's controller (which is somehow worse than the PS3, which was already bad). Given that Scorpio will be dramatically more powerful than PS4Pro, Sony's advantage relies primarily on the Japanese developers who have given up on XBox (which is a real difference, to be fair, and XBox has not caught up by getting enough other exclusives --- although I really wish there was no such thing as exclusives anymore).

The advantage of the XBox (or PS4) for streaming is smooth performance. Chromecast is crap, Roku sometimes got a little slow, and TV apps are generally poorly supported.
posted by thefoxgod at 2:43 PM on June 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Oh, and this data is obviously only available depending on your privacy settings, for me they would see nothing.
posted by thefoxgod at 2:44 PM on June 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'm a Nintendo guy myself, I have to wonder what this data would look like for the Switch, or Nintendo systems in general, which generally don't have CODBLOPS. (CODBLOPS)
posted by JHarris at 2:45 PM on June 6, 2017

For Switch, I expect it looks like:
85% Breath of the Wild
10% Mario Kart
5% Everything else

Since it only has games, and the one game sold at least as many copies as the Switch itself.
posted by thefoxgod at 2:55 PM on June 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Oh yeah, to be clear, I dumped the 360 for a Roku about 3 years ago and it's a much better experience.

And RDR was great, probably the most fun I had on the 360.
posted by uncleozzy at 3:01 PM on June 6, 2017

We have an XBone and I actually like it just fine. My girlfriend plays games she likes, and we spend a lot of time watching streaming stuff. We went with the XB1 over PS4 because we already had a bunch of 360 games, and the backwards compatibility seemed better. I really wish exclusive games weren't a thing, because we have no need for a PS4 or a Switch besides their exclusive games. A $60 A+ game becomes a ~$300 investment, and that's not worth it.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 3:01 PM on June 6, 2017

I have a PS4 and an Xbox One. The Xbox is almost exclusively a media hub - Netflix, Amazon, Plex, Youtube, Twitch. It's the original version with the Kinect so I even use the voice commands for TV watching and switching apps ("Xbox, watch MSNBC" - "Xbox, go to Netflix"). It's great for that. I play a few games on the Xbox, but Playstation has all the great exclusives (Bloodborne, The Last Of Us, Horizon Zero Dawn, Persona, etc, etc)
posted by Roommate at 3:08 PM on June 6, 2017

For Switch, I expect it looks like:
85% Breath of the Wild

That's for ownership. In terms of play time, a lot of people have to have moved to other things by now. Word is that indies have been doing well on Switch so far.

CODBLOPS
posted by JHarris at 3:13 PM on June 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

We went with the XB1 over PS4 because we already had a bunch of 360 games, and the backwards compatibility seemed better.

Speaking of backwards compatibility, this is what a Sony Executive had to say about that recently [via: Kotaku]:

““When we’ve dabbled with backwards compatibility, I can say it is one of those features that is much requested, but not actually used much,” Sony’s head of global sales Jim Ryan said this week to Time.

Understandable enough, but then he goes on: “That, and I was at a Gran Turismo event recently where they had PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4 games,” he continued, “and the PS1 and the PS2 games, they looked ancient, like why would anybody play this?””

Translation: We would stop making so much money off of PSNow if we supported backwards compatibility. Why don't you buy PS3 Game: Remastered Edition instead, consumer?
posted by Fizz at 3:26 PM on June 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

Word is that indies have been doing well on Switch so far.

Impossible to know without digital sales data which Nintendo doesn't seem to release. Retail-wise, the closes third party game is 10% of Zelda sales and most are less than 1%. But if people are buying those games they're probably doing so digitally (ugh).

I have yet to meet anyone with a Switch (including myself) who has played anything but Zelda and Mario Kart, but thats not very representative :)
posted by thefoxgod at 3:26 PM on June 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

I've somehow managed to sink nearly as many hours into Puyo Puyo Tetris as I have into Zelda, so there's that
posted by DoctorFedora at 3:39 PM on June 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm done with Microsoft. I went from my 360 right into PC Gaming because I was tired of console limitations.

Not to be pedantic, but if you're gaming on a PC I'm pretty sure you're not done with Microsoft.

(Here is where the Linux gaming people poop all over me. Are there Linux gaming people? Do they poop?)
posted by The Bellman at 3:43 PM on June 6, 2017 [5 favorites]

Puyo Puyo Tetris

BRB buying a Switch
posted by adept256 at 3:47 PM on June 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

(Here is where the Linux gaming people poop all over me. Are there Linux gaming people? Do they poop?)

There are, and nobody needs to poop on a Soylent diet when properly administered.
posted by selfnoise at 3:47 PM on June 6, 2017 [8 favorites]

Not to be pedantic, but if you're gaming on a PC I'm pretty sure you're not done with Microsoft.

Ha, was waiting for someone to call that out. Thing is, I've sold my soul to the devil and the devil's name is Steam. I'm ok with the trade-offs and the advantages that come with their platform.
posted by Fizz at 3:48 PM on June 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

Impossible to know without digital sales data which Nintendo doesn't seem to release.

I think I get that impression from the indie devs I follow on Twitter.

(Psst: CODBLOPS. Such a fun word!)
posted by JHarris at 4:38 PM on June 6, 2017

There's a PS4, an XBox One, an Amazon Fire Stick, and an HTPC in the living room.

Each has a purpose.

If me, XBox, even to watch TV, because if a friend logs on and starts playing a game I may want to join in on, I want to be notified.
If the SO, she goes for the Fire Stick -- because she couldn't care less if dirkdiggler7000 logs on and wants to play Destiny.

The PS4 is there for Uncharted. Seriously. It's kinda sad, but I did wait for the big PS4 sale because I knew it was all it would be for until Valkyria came back.

The HTPC is for OTA HD and the home media library.
posted by linux at 4:41 PM on June 6, 2017

I have yet to meet anyone with a Switch (including myself) who has played anything but Zelda and Mario Kart, but thats not very representative :)

Having finally saved Hyrule, I'm a couple hours into Disgaea 5. Which I guess could eventually be as many hours of play time as Zelda, but I don't think they'll be as satisfying.
posted by asperity at 5:27 PM on June 6, 2017

I use my XB1 for almost everything --- video, games, etc. Only fall back to PS4 for the rare game thats (a) worth playing and (b) not on XB1 (so far thats a grand total of 2: Persona 5 and World of Final Fantasy). Mostly because the Elite controller is leagues beyond the PS4's controller (which is somehow worse than the PS3, which was already bad).


Wow, thefoxgod and I are like the same person. The Elite controller has pretty much ruined me for other controllers... although the Switch Pro controller is pretty good.

We use the Xbone for all streaming services, mainly because of the voice control... "Xbox On!" and the tv, xbone, and soundbar are all on. Beyond that I use the remote, but you CAN use voice controls for everything if you want to. "Volume up" and "down" are awesome.

The optical drive on my PS4 is borked, and the Xbone drive is on the way out (seriously??), but I'll hold out for Scorpio and I'll just go digital for any PS4 games I want.

TBH, most of my gaming is on the Switch now, and I got an 8bitdo controller for the Switch at work. Shovel Knight is my crack du jour, and I'm anticipating a bright future for the Switch.
posted by Huck500 at 5:28 PM on June 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

Not to be pedantic, but if you're gaming on a PC I'm pretty sure you're not done with Microsoft.

(Here is where the Linux gaming people poop all over me. Are there Linux gaming people? Do they poop?)

I'll be over here in my Apple/UNIX enclave, where it's perpetually about to be The Year of Gaming on the Macintosh

one of these days I'll have to ask the Linux folks how they handled it when the Year of Mainstream Desktop Linux finally came
posted by DoctorFedora at 6:15 PM on June 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

(Disclaimer: I work for Sony. These are my own opinions though. Unless you think they're dumb. Then they're somebody else's.)

Understandable enough, but then he goes on: “That, and I was at a Gran Turismo event recently where they had PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4 games,” he continued, “and the PS1 and the PS2 games, they looked ancient, like why would anybody play this?”

If you limit that to just the scope of Gran Turismo, which kinda trades on technical fidelity (of cars and tracks and physics), maybe that statement's a little bit defensible, but then it's no longer pertinent. So yeah, that's a dumb thing to say. It is pretty undeniable that there were fun games for previous generation consoles.

Translation: We would stop making so much money off of PSNow if we supported backwards compatibility. Why don't you buy PS3 Game: Remastered Edition instead, consumer?

I haven't seen any numbers, but I'm skeptical that PSNow makes any kind of big bucks, especially when people are barely even using the free backwards compatibility on the XB1. Remastered editions can do pretty well (here I have seen some numbers), but definitely not well enough to like dictate a platform's strategy.

I think the real story with PS4 backwards compatibility is just that it's difficult, wouldn't get much use (see XB1 data), wouldn't make money even if it did get used, and is just sort of a technological dead-end.

My theory about how it happened on the XB1 (Note: this is pure speculation) is that maybe the Windows team had already done a bunch of research at some point, in case ARM or something ever just took off and left x86 in the dust, because for Windows, binary backwards compatibility is like the number one most important feature.
posted by aubilenon at 6:43 PM on June 6, 2017

I think the real story with PS4 backwards compatibility is just that it's difficult, wouldn't get much use (see XB1 data), wouldn't make money even if it did get used, and is just sort of a technological dead-end.

For Nintendo, the story is the opposite, although it's also given them the opportunity to resell the best Wii U games to all the people who didn't get a Wii U.
posted by JHarris at 6:47 PM on June 6, 2017

the Switch Pro controller is pretty good

Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised by it. Of course, given that its basically an XBox controller that shouldn't have been too surprising :)

it's also given them the opportunity to resell the best Wii U games to all the people who didn't get a Wii U.

For Nintendo it seems like an easy value proposition given how badly the Wii U did and how well the Switch appears to be doing. These games are almost like new releases to a huge group of people. I can see why Sony feels differently, as the PS3 was popular enough that most people who wanted them at the time already bought them (although there will always be some people who want them now, or weren't playing games back then, or whatever).

The Wii U had some fun games that hopefully will get another chance at an audience on the Switch eventually (Yoshi's Woolly World!)
posted by thefoxgod at 7:01 PM on June 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

Linux gamer here!

Runs ZX Spectrum emulation just fine. No idea what the rest of you are even talking about.
posted by Devonian at 7:09 PM on June 6, 2017 [8 favorites]

Another pc convert here. I splurged on my last laptop purchase instead and just plug it into the tv. Still have the 360, but it doesn't get turned on much. We get Netflix and the rest through the dvr.

Also, YES to playing RDR! I may have to pick up a copy and replay it with 2 coming out next year.
posted by calamari kid at 7:26 PM on June 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

I think the real story with PS4 backwards compatibility is just that it's difficult, wouldn't get much use (see XB1 data), wouldn't make money even if it did get used, and is just sort of a technological dead-end.

For Nintendo, the story is the opposite...

Opposite how? For the Switch, backwards compatibility is extra difficult, because all their recent consoles have more screens and/or weirder controls than the Switch, plus the games were on physical media that the switch can't read. So they're doing remastered (well, "deluxe") editions, same as Sony.
posted by aubilenon at 8:58 PM on June 6, 2017

We have an xbone and a 360, but they are primarily the toys of the teens, unless I'm streaming something, or pulling something from my plex server. Gaming on the xbox isn't that fun for me, because i find controllers difficult to use with arthritis. (PC gaming for the win, for me.) Also, we just have a singular gamertag that everyone in the house uses, and our privacy settings are locked as tight as we can get them, and our "friends" list is limited to people we actually know, as are most of the families in this neighborhood who all have xbones and the kids play together online all the time. Vast oceans of user data is not really included in this sample, and as such, I would take any conclusions with a grain of salt.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 9:48 PM on June 6, 2017

and the PS1 and the PS2 games, they looked ancient, like why would anybody play this?

Almost the same words said by a costumer of mine back in the day, livid with the abuse of PS2 content recycling on GT5, as he dropped an IKEA bag with an almost new PS3 in box and a special edition of the game. I think lost the chance of finally convincing him RR:T4 is the best psone racing game in that moment.
posted by lmfsilva at 11:04 PM on June 6, 2017

Opposite how? For the Switch, backwards compatibility is extra difficult, because all their recent consoles have more screens and/or weirder controls than the Switch, plus the games were on physical media that the switch can't read.

If backwards compatibility had been a priority for them Nintendo would have designed the Switch to allow it. Anyway, it had been a prominent part of their past two console releases. My point was, backwards compat matters more to Nintendo players because they have unusual games that are typically not available on other platforms, that a person might not get to see again until two or three generations later.
posted by JHarris at 1:45 AM on June 7, 2017

When I first got my OG fat PS3, which basically had a PS2 stuck inside it, such that it had perfect BC with PS2 and PS games, I used the crap out of that backwards compatibility. I had barely played any PS2 games on the actual PS2 (Mainly Gran Turismo 4..the entire reason I bought it) I had or any but a couple of PlayStation games (mainly Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Gran Turismo), there weren't many good PS3 games out yet, and a lot of the rereleases (like the Metal Gear Solid collection that they put out just prior to were done on PS2 discs, so those chips got a whole lot of exercise that first year or so.

With each iteration of the PS3 hardware, less BC was done with hardware and more with software until there was no more hardware and the list of working games got really weak. It's no wonder people hardly use it. The popular games get a remaster or go downloadable anyway. The real magic is being able to play the obscure titles.
posted by wierdo at 7:01 AM on June 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

Metafilter: CODBLOPS
posted by radicalawyer at 9:10 AM on June 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

(Here is where the Linux gaming people poop all over me. Are there Linux gaming people? Do they poop?)

Here's what I know: never ask for help with a Linux distro, and by extension never ask a Linux user anything, because they are some of the least helpful people on the planet. The best approach is to make a statement - "Linux users don't even poop" - and then you'll get all the answers you need.
posted by turbid dahlia at 9:56 PM on June 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

The plot thickens!

From that update:

On Wednesday evening, Xbox Chief Marketing Officer Mike Nichols shared via Twitter that "roughly 50 percent of Xbox One owners have played" a backward compatible Xbox 360 game, putting in "over 508 million hrs" with the feature since it launched in late 2015.

Those numbers seem to contrast pretty heavily with what we see in our randomly sampled Xbox Live server data. Assuming about 28 million total Xbox One owners for back-of-the-envelope math, Nichols' number averages out to about 18 total hours of backward compatible play per owner. In our approximately 4.5 month sample, we could expect that to translate to about 4.5 hours of backward compatible play per Xbox Live user. Instead, we measured a 25.9 minute average during that period.

They have some guesses as to why that could be, but they don't really have any new information to work with, so they don't really have anything substantial to add, other than to remind us that they did spend "over 1,000 words of [their] analysis piece laying out the limitations and caveats".
posted by aubilenon at 3:17 PM on June 8, 2017

And it thickens even more. Turns out the XBL API undercounts, so the conclusions are rather suspect. Debate rages as to whether or not relative numbers are also wrong.
posted by wierdo at 11:22 AM on June 11, 2017