Xbots, arm up! You've just received a new salvo of ammo for your ongoing crusade against those Sony Cronies: Xbox Live has generated a lot more money than PSN, according to Variety's math. (Of course, dear Xbox Fanboy, let us remind you that this victory comes at the expense of your wallet.) Variety did some quick estimations based on Sony's recent 20 million registrations announcement and Microsoft's reported earnings from Xbox Live. PSN has generated $180 million for Sony, whereas Xbox Live has made Microsoft a tidy sum in excess of $1 billion.

PSN, which includes both PS3 and PSP users, has been active for 40 percent of Xbox Live's current lifespan, however, Sony's service has only managed to generate 20 percent as much revenue. Of course, PSN is free, so registrations don't generate any revenue for Sony, unlike Xbox Live, which costs $50 per year for a premium, Gold subscription. It's not known how much of Xbox Live's total revenue is attributed to Gold subscribers' annual fees.

Source: Joystiq

Subscriptions, bigger userbase to buy more DLC/games, a year older than PSN.

If I were Microsoft, I would be ashamed if LIVE didn't generate much more revenue than PSN, and this is hardly surprising.

I don't think one would have to look farther than that.

Anyone know if these numbers include the numbers of the original Xbox? Was it even called LIVE back then?

Half that money is from people who make account and say they are gay and get banned. :P Jk

maybe im missing something...but where is this 1bil number from?

E3 of last year I believe.

This isn't news or something to brag about... the PSN is free, LIVE isn't.

1 billion in two and a half years averages at 400M/year.

I wonder if they'll have the same success selling XBL goodies to the tons of new users who are buying arcades these days than to the old-timers who mostly bought HDD 360's. Those highly-priced HDD's must be a tough sale and they are pretty much a prerequisite for all the XBL revenue streams besides gold subscriptions.

So it appears that half or more of the revenue MS earns from live is from subscriptions, and that on the whole Sony is probably selling more DLC. Okay.

@Bitmap - You do realize that they are talking lifetime for both services, right?  That is, in over 5 years MS has earned over a billion while in just over 2 years Sony has earned $180 million