Xbox by the numbers: 20m Xbox Live users, 10m nongaming, 39m Xbox 360 consoles worldwide

or maybe it's just the PSN thing is a much more common occurrence than the 360 thing. i dont know anyone with more than 1 360 acct, but all my friends have multiple PSns. It sounds like you're seriously going out of your way to discredit joystiq. There's a word for that...oh yeah: dickery

skullduggery

I couldn't agree more @kenny goo.

I noticed that the headline pointed out the number of non-gaming 360's but it didnt point out the number of non-operational 360's...

Hmm. I have five Xbox Live accounts, three of which were created after being instructed to by MS support before they developed a way to manage rights for downloadable games after getting the RROD, compared to three PSN accounts (a main one, a Japanese one and a UK one). I think it can certainly work both ways in terms of signing up for multiple accounts, although it's definitely commendable that MS has been able to sign up so many paying subscribers.

I wanted to make up something but skullduggery is just too awesome a word.

I've had multiple accounts. I think every xbox provides a 1 month gold for 3 newly created accounts. Which I used when up.

Also one to check out everything I miss out on with the American XBL (and all the things I would hate...Like ads)

PSN account numbers are a little skewed since they are not just talking PS3. They count PS3, PSP, and web accounts in that figure. Microsoft only counts "active"(whatever that means) console accounts.

Microsoft has stated that they count their XBL user number by "active"(whatever that means) accounts created on the console. Sony, on the other hand, countds every single account ever created on PS3, PSP, and on the web.

I don't even have a PS3 yet, but I went ahead and made an account online to reserve the PSN username that I want. Does mine count into the 38mil?

We HAVE to enter Zune to access our videos. It takes too long and is too annoying. Why can't we just have it back the way it was? I click on videos, I select the source (my hard drive) and I watch what's on it. Why do I have to use Zune when I don't even own one? (I don't own an iPod either, just for reference. I use the original: Creative MP3 players.)

Considering the PS3 hasn't even sold 38 million, yes, the numbers are a little suspect.

Skullduggery!! Wow, best word EVER!!

My stomach hurts from laughing

Not so fast on your math. Those 10 million are not all gold members they listed Zune. The Zune Marketplace is available to silver users like myself that has looked around there recently.

39m xboxes sold and only 20m users? that's nearly a 50% failure rate. is that the sweet smell of success?

With 20 million paying XBL users, combined with profit made from selling games, consoles, accessories, rentals, and Microsoft's already massive amount of money... Why can't they make XBL a free service?
I think I could guarantee it being more money for them in the long run: Free XBL=Less money but more users. More users=more things bought on the marketplace, more income from in-game adverts on Burnout, sports games etc.

Deja vu?

I know someone who does that

I don't understand why sony doesn't charge for psn. Obviously they wouldn't charge as much as live because it's not as good, but even 20-30$. I mean it's clearly a good business discussion. Look at how much Microsoft is making off of live.. a crap load.

@ Markez

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_Duggery

How many of those 38 million units are broken and unuseable? How many are banned?

@ The Dark Wayne

If you don't know anyone who has created more than one account on Xbox Live, you're either lying, don't have very many people on your friends list (or have a very select group of people), or don't know about their gaming habits. Creating alternate accounts is something that happens anywhere where you can make a free account, and with all the 48 hour and 1 month cards that get shuffled around free accounts get made quite often. They come in game packages, they come with hardware repairs, they come with your console just for buying a year of Live.

@ nutman

...and? Their numbers aren't just paying Gold subscribers, they're paid Gold, trial Gold, and Silver accounts. Even if they're just talking about "active" users, that would still include all of the trial and alternate accounts people have used in whatever time frame they're considering "active". All I'm saying is that it is by NO means one account to every one player on 360, and there aren't 100 accounts to every one player on PS3, and I feel like Joystiq is going out of their way to try and invalidate the PSN numbers which is a simply put a bias.

@ nikescar

Your PSN ID works on both PS3 and PSP. There are 31 million PS3s and 55 million PSPs out there. Do the math.

I got a month sub with GTA IV ...

.5 billion games sold, wow

Do they count red-ringed consoles? If so then 3 of those 39 million were mine.