Last month, Sony boasted that they had reached a PlayStation Network
userbase of 20 million registered accounts. In the words of their press release, "the cumulative number of registered accounts on PlayStation Network has exceeded 20 million as of February 20, 2009".
However, Stephen McGill, the head of Microsoft's UK gaming and entertainment division, is skeptical, as those numbers would place the number of PSN users at 3 million more than what Microsoft has with Xbox Live. To that end, he says that there are "questions over what does Sony's numbers really mean."
"When we talk about our numbers we feel they're active users who are actively engaged in all the forms of entertainment we offer on Xbox 360," McGill told VideoGamer.com. "I think if you look at the comments made on the forums, or the comments made by analysts at Screen Digest then there's questions over, well what does Sony's numbers really mean? Are they duplicates? I think there's a lot of questions there."
He continues, "All I'm really worried about is, I know I'm the largest online video on demand service in the UK, we are worldwide, we've got a great online service the others can't come close to. They're not right now. When you think of our heritage as a company Microsoft has proven we are probably the only company in the world that can offer great online experiences for millions and millions and millions of people. And that's what we do every day with Xbox LIVE."
McGill concludes: "Sony do what Sony want to do and if they think that's right for their business to say those kind of numbers then they can do and will do whatever they want to do. Do I believe them? No."
http://360.kombo.com/article.php?artid=15947
