Sony Claims 20 Million PlayStation Network Accounts

Sony claims there is now a total of 20 million registered accounts on PlayStation Network worldwide, up from 14 million in November 2008. According to Sony’s own figures, the number of accounts reached 5 million in 14 months, 10 million in 20 months and passed the 20 million mark after 2 years and 3 months from the service’s launch in November 2006. The figures include users on both the PlayStation 3 and PSP, from a total of 70 million shipped consoles between the two platforms. The PlayStation Network is currently available in over 55 countries and regions around the world. More than 600 titles with online features are now available on the PlayStation 3, says Sony, and more than 14,500 items of digital content are available for download across the two platforms. This includes exclusive online games, downloadable versions of PSP UMD titles, game demos and over 5,900 movies and TV episodes. More than 380 million pieces of content have been downloaded to date, resulting in revenues of over $180 million. Sony also provided an update on the PS3's PlayStation Home virtual world, revealing that the number of users has passed 4 million since December 2008. Lifestyle service Life with PlayStation has also attracted more than 2.6 million users. In its most recent statement ,Microsoft indicated that there were 17 million users of Xbox Live -- although notably, the PlayStation Network service does not require any paid subscription to play games online.