Sony 'Clarifies' PSN's Xbox LIVE Catch-Up

After releasing figures that made it look rather like the PlayStation 3's online take-up has caught up with Microsoft's Xbox Live service, Sony has clarified that this is not the case.

In a PlayStation Blog posting celebrating the PS3's second birthday last week, Sony Computer Entertainment America's director of hardware marketing, John Koller, noted that there are now 14 million active accounts on the PlayStation Network. That matches the 14 million users Microsoft has on its Xbox Live service. This is pretty impressive, given that Live is the jewel in the Xbox crown, the 360's been on the market pushing online for a year longer than the PS3 - and the PS2 couldn't drive PSN sign-ups as it didn't support the service.

But wait! A Sony rep has offered the following clarification - "Seeing as PlayStation Portable does include PlayStation Network services (i.e. games store natively on PSP), yes those numbers do include all PlayStation Network registrations."

So, exactly how many of those registrations are, in fact, for the PS3? Sony wouldn't disclose a figure. The representative did state, however, that, "We've seen an increase in unique [PS3] consoles registered for PSN compared to the sell through rate, which means we are seeing more PlayStation 3 owners who didn't previously register do so lately, based on the new features we've added to PSN, such as Video Store and Trophies."

It was also clarified that accounts set up on one platform then used on the other are only counted once.

Bear in mind that the initial Koller statement did not claim that the users were all PS3 owners.

Koller's exact words were, "PlayStation Network has truly hit its stride with unique downloadable games and a video delivery service featuring movies, TV shows, and original programming that you can watch in HD with your PS3, or bring with you on your PSP. And with 14 million active accounts and 273 million pieces of content downloaded, we know that you’re thirsting for this digital entertainment."

Koller also noted that there are now 17 million PS3s sold worldwide, US sales are up 100% from a year ago and software sales have tripled over the same period.

What he didn't mention was when serious marketing for Xmas was going to kick in or when the PS3 price-drop to £250 that is so badly needed will happen.

^{Sources:
PlayStation Blog
GameSpot}