UPDATED: Xbox LIVE Performance Over the Holiday Period - An Open Letter From Marc Whitten, GM of Xbox LIVE

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January 04

UPDATED: Xbox LIVE Performance Over the Holiday Period - An Open Letter From Marc Whitten, GM of Xbox LIVE

You'll no doubt be aware that some LIVE users have been suffering problems over the Christmas and new year period, and I want to thank everyone who has been in touch with me to let me know about the issues they have been facing. Everyone here at Xbox has been alert to your thoughts and experiences, and overnight Marc Whitten - the General Manager of Xbox LIVE - has written this open letter to you:

"Dear Xbox LIVE Members:

During this past holiday season you helped us break a number of Xbox LIVE records. This included our largest sign-up of new members to Xbox LIVE in our 5 year history and just yesterday you broke the record for the single biggest day of concurrent members ever on the service.

As a result of this massive increase in usage we know that some of you experienced intermittent Xbox LIVE issues over the holiday break. While the service was not completely offline at any given time, we are disappointed in our performance. I would like to take this moment to thank you each and every one of you for your patience and understanding as our team has worked around the clock to return the service to a stable state.

At the same time we would like to offer a token of our appreciation to all of you in celebration of record success for the service. And as a thank you for your loyalty during this holiday period, we will be offering all of our Xbox LIVE members around the world access to a full Xbox LIVE Arcade game that will be available to download free of charge. In the coming weeks we will be sharing the specific details of this offer with you.

Thank you again for helping make Xbox LIVE everything that it is today!

Sincerely,

Marc Whitten

General Manager, Xbox LIVE
Gamertag: Notwen"

I'll get you more details on which Xbox LIVE Arcade game will be made available for free when I find out. Thanks again so much for your patience and your enthusiasm to tell us about any problems you may have faced!

UPDATE: I notice that Major Nelson Twittered that the free Arcade game will be available for both Gold and Silver Xbox Live users. Still no details on the game itself.

9:39 AM | Blog it | Xbox Live News

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	Davewrote: Thanks Ritchie. In anticipation of those Live fanboys you mentioned I just thought I had better point out that I do think Live is incredibly good value at only £40 a year (when it is working). However, this said, it is the price that Microsoft put on the service and therefore they obviously thought that they could provide a decent service for this amount. As a result we have a legitimate right to complain about a product which promises to provide a service and does not. If you bought a game or electrical product and it did not work properly you would take it back to the shop, not discuss how reasonable the price is with the manufacturer. I am not overly concerned about Gold getting better treatment than the Silvers, I see it more as a matter of principal. It seems that the only way to get a company to face up to its responsibilities these days is to threaten its pockets. I would urge people to say to Microsoft that it doesnt matter how much they paid, they did pay, and they want the service that was promised as per the contract they entered into when they purchased Live. Jan. 11
	Ritchie 2 wrote: Dave, I agree. What is most sickening is the hordes of illiterate fanboi's who seem to think losing a months service (which I pay for) can be compensated by a crap arcade game. All I want is for MS to recognise that Gold's who pay for the service are due some kind of refund or free service for the shockingly poor service we have had to put up with over christmas. And for MS to put into place a service status indicator that actually reflects what is going on within Live, whilst keeping paying customers informed of technical issues by Email or on their webpage. An arcade game free to both Golds and Silvers and a patronising press release simply does not cut it. Thankfully some MS press releases are now recognising (three weeks late) that their have been problems but that is not stopping MS censorship over at the official forums. Jan. 10
	Davewrote: As of very early this morning the Xbox Live service was as unreliable as it has ever been over the last two to three weeks. Microsoft likes to portray itself as company providing next generation gaming to adults and yet we seem to be being treated like children. I do not particularly care how many people signed up over Christmas period, especially if it causes existing customers to suffer, that is merely Microsoft putting profits before their existing customer's satisfaction. I do not particularly care about receiving a free, and most likely substandard, arcade game, I bought the console to play next generation games not first generation ones. What I do care about is the hours wasted trying to get a game on my next generation console. What with the number of consoles breaking down being around 40% (I consider myself lucky only to be on my third 360) and the poor Xbox Live service, it is getting to the stage where many people I know have either sold their 360s and bought a PS3 or are considering doing so. After all, why pay for a dysfunctional Xbox Live where the gamer hosts the game on their own console when the Playstation Network provides their own free servers that run lag free. I'm lucky enough to own both consoles but many people I know have disappeared from Live to appear on my PS3 friends list, despite the PS3's lack of games at present. How much more do Microsoft think their customers are willing to put up with? Jan. 9
	Leewrote: Still having alot of probelms with Xbox Live, joining games(ie. invites not working, join session in progress not functioning) and sending and receiving messages freezing the console. Hope they get this sorted soon as it's really getting on my nerves now. As for the silver and gold members compensation, I aslo think there should be a difference between the two(gold member compensation should incluide those that's subsription runs up until the problem period, but not silvers with gold trials IMO). I would think if silver account holders are given a free game also then it should be 400 points for silver members and 800 for gold members, after all we're the ones that are paying for the service so we do deserve more. Jan. 8
	Ritchie 2 wrote: @ No name, I'm not saying silvers should not get some form of compensation, I'm saying that if silvers are recieving a free game, then what are subscribers getting for our troubles bearing in mind we are paying for the service. Jan. 7
	TD wrote: A free game as a celebration? What about some compensation for the shoddy service? Then some more for the time its taken to fix (assuming you lot actually fix it) and then more again for the insult that is Marc Whitten's press release? All i want is for the service i pay for to work, if its broken i want it fixed quickly and it that cant happen i want to know why. MS have failed on all three points. It aint working, its been broke for ages with no ETA on a fix and the Whitten press release is a joke. Jan. 7
	Wheats wrote: Oh goodie, 10m members have signed-up to Live. Fantastic time to announce that considering the problems most of us have been having for over a fortnight now. One XBLA game as "compenstation" is nowhere near enough i'm afraid. Jan. 7
	(no name) wrote: for the guy who said silver accounts shouldnt be compensated aswell, what if its people like me who have 2 gold accounts that run out today and tommorow, i suffered through the downtime but wont have gold anymore so do i not deserve the game aswell? obviously i'd prefer a free month of live to an arcade game that i probably wont even play anyway. Jan. 7
	nejibobwrote: I just wish these “I feel sorry for myself PS3 wanna bee owners” will hurry up and sod off, that’ll soon make XBL a lot better for sure lol. Jan. 7
	macto wrote: "Andrew yes, its just when people try to threaten ms by people saying theyll get a ps3 that annoys me" I'm on my 5th Xbox, even when live is up I have to put up with constant freezes and crashes and now since Xbox Live is unusable, I'm considering going to PS3 instead, should I keep that secret then? Jan. 7
	GorillaGorilla wrote: The length of time live has now been experiencing problems is in my opinion unacceptable for a service I pay for, and as I buy most of my games for online play I have several games which are effectively of no value to me whilst live is down. Lets face it live has not been functioning properly since the last update. Far to many people seem to want to defend MS or adopt a must not grumble attitude. It is these sorts of attitudes that allow this level of service to persist. I shall be putting my complaint and claim for compensation in writing to MS, suggest others do same. Be good if acey or someone else could provide the appropraite UK postal address. If the above does not result in a satisfactory conclusion and live is still in its piss poor state I will enquire about the possibilty of a chargeback from my CC company for the live sub. Jan. 6
	Ritchie 2 wrote: I'm complaining because I have recieved poor service and as a paying subscriber I have every right to complain. I pay £40 per year for the privelidge of playing online and I have hardly been able to do that for the past 3 weeks, I just want compensation for poor service and an indication from MS that GOLD accounts are being compensated over and above SILVER accounts who do not pay for the service. The free arcade game is a nice gesture, but if it is being given to everyone, what is being done to compensate those millions of paying customers who have experienced major problems over Chrstmas and beyond? Jan. 6
	Lloytron wrote: How are we getting compensation? The release specifically states "we would like to offer a token of our appreciation to all of you in celebration of record success for the service". Taking them at their word, then this would be the case even if there were not any problems at all. There has been no official statement regarding compensation for problems and downtime. I know the reality is that the free game is a token gesture to apologise, but the official statement says anything but this. Jan. 6
	Andrewwrote: thats not what I said, but your not complaining, your whining about things that don't even exist. it doesn't solely affect online play, it has had an effect on marketplace, sign up, recovery so yes everyone does deserve the free game. You are getting compensation, just beause you dont like it isn't their fault, the arcade game costs much more than the cost of live for the two weeks of issues that we have been having. Especially considering the issues weren't constant. Jan. 6
	Ritchie 2 wrote: Sorry, my bad - as a paying gold user I have no right to complain or ask for compensation because my service was awfull over the Christmas period (and still is). Jan. 6
	Andrewwrote: because its easier to give everyone it, and silver subs did have problems too, why dont people actually try listening to what is actually said rather than hearing it and making up their own mind like usual. Jan. 6
	Ritchie 2 wrote: I still dont understand why Silver accounts are getting a free game? Surley those who are paying customers should be compensated over and above people who do not pay for the service? This is a problem with online play, and affects gold members more than silvers by a country mile. Jan. 6
	Lloytron wrote: I bet the new subscribers who are experiencing XBL for the first time and having such a bad time with it don't think their purchases warrant such a celebration! I dread to think how painful the setup process is on a new 360 right now. If I'd just bought an Elite with a load of games and couldn't get the console online or updated, or any of the game updates, let alone actually play online, then I'd find that marketing message even more insulting than it actually is. Jan. 6

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