Xbox Live, which launches in the US in November and will be available in the UK from March 14, is a radical extension of the Xbox games console, allowing multiple gamers with a broadband internet connection to play each other.
Foxwell joins as European marketing manager of Xbox Live and will report to the European director of Xbox Michel Cassius. She was previously loyalty and retention manager at MSN UK and prior to that a senior marketer at Havas-owned games publisher Sierra Studios.
Her appointment comes as Microsoft is poised to start beta-testing the system in the UK among a few hundred trialists. Customers plug a designated port on the back of their console into their broadband modem in order to take advantage of multiplayer gaming.
An Xbox Live headset communicator will enable gamers to speak to each other as they play.
Microsoft is pinning much of its growth strategy on the rapid uptake of Xbox Live among hardcore gamers. Online gaming is seen as a killer application by ISPs to drive the uptake of broadband internet. It is about to mount an aggressive campaign to market Xbox in the run-up to Christmas and lift its current installed base of around 300,000 consoles in the UK.
Foxwell's key task will be to identify the most passionate gamers likely to adopt Xbox Live and improve the consumer experience on the basis of user trials. She said the subscription fee of the product in the UK was yet to be decided, but that Xbox Live will launch with dozens of online-enabled Xbox games.
Sony is understood to have similarly ambitious plans to allow online gaming with PlayStation 2.
Foxwell said marketing of Xbox Live would be through the brand's existing advertising agencies. Bartle Bogle Hegarty holds its advertising business, Agency Republic handles its relationship marketing activity, while AKQA holds the online account.
Separately, Xbox is about to distribute an interactive DVD to market the console and capture consumers' interest for the festive season.
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