The Xbox network, formerly known and commonly referred to as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Gaming for the Xbox brand. It was first made available to the original Xbox console on November 15, 2002. An updated version of the service, adding the Xbox Live Marketplace, became available with the Xbox 360 console launch in November 2005, and a further enhanced version was released in 2013 with the Xbox One. The service is used on the latest Xbox Series X and Series S and, in addition to a Microsoft account, is the account for Xbox ecosystem; accounts can store games and other content.
The service was extended in 2007 across the Windows platform, named Games for Windows – Live, now defunct, which made most aspects of the system available on Windows computers. The Microsoft Store and Xbox app are now used to cross over the Xbox ecosystem into PC gaming, in addition to handhelds and mobile phones as part of the Play Anywhere initiative. Microsoft's former mobile operating system, Windows Phone, included full Xbox Live functionality until it was discontinued. The service shut down for the original Xbox on April 15, 2010, and original Xbox Games are now only playable online through Insignia, an unofficial Xbox Live replacement service, or through local area network (LAN) tunneling applications.