Sony Claims 14 Million PSN Accounts

Sony has claimed that the number of PlayStation Network online accounts has risen to 14 million worldwide – more than the number of subscribers to Xbox Live. Writing on PlayStation's official blog,, Sony senior marketing manager John Koller claimed that 273 million pieces of content had been downloaded via the service, which covers both the PSP and PlayStation 3 formats. In June, Sony revealed that the total number of active PlayStation Network accounts stood at over 9.8 million, suggesting a rapid increase in numbers over the last few months. The last figure for Xbox Live was given in May as 12 million, although it is unclear whether this includes both free Silver accounts and paid-for Gold accounts. While commemorating the second anniversary of the PS3 in the U.S., Koller emphasized that there were now close to 17 million PS3 consoles sold worldwide – with U.S. sales up 100 percent from the previous year. Software sales for the format have tripled in the same period. Discussing the future of the PS3 over the next twelve months Koller singled out Killzone 2, Sucker Punch’s inFamous and the launch of PlayStation Home’s open beta as key forthcoming releases.