New releases fuel Xbox Live and iTunes website traffic surges

By Will Head on Dec 7, 2006 9:56 AM
Filed under Software

Apple and Microsoft reap the benefits of new software development.

New software releases have seen a surge in traffic for Microsoft's Xbox Live and Apple's iTunes websites, newly published figures claim.

Statistics released by network equipment supplier Sandvine show an 80 percent increase in Xbox Live traffic the week following the release of six new games.

Microsoft released six games on 7 November, including the much anticipated Gears of War - which sold 1 million copies in its first two weeks.

The spike in Xbox Live traffic was estimated to be similar to that experienced after the release of Halo II in 2004.

Apple's release of iTunes 7 on 12 September saw a 140 percent increase in traffic to iTunes. The new version allows users to download films to compatible iPods.

"The effect Gears of War and other games are having on networks indicates to service providers that online gaming is not just a craze," said Dave Caputo, president and CEO of Sandvine.

"Other multimedia applications like video downloads onto iPods are increasingly becoming popular, so service providers need to identify these trends early in order to proactively ensure there is adequate capacity to support the extra bandwidth usage."