Sony and Microsoft's Online Community Population Figures Compared

Yesterday Sony issued a press release claiming PlayStation Network's member count was up to an impressive 17 million -- once again matching Microsoft's recent figure of 17 million active members on Xbox Live. Of course, there's a grain of salt to be taken with both sides' figures. Microsoft's numbers don't differentiate between Xbox Live Gold and Silver members, instead only claiming that a "majority" of those 17 million are Gold members. But even 9 million would be a majority, so the exact number of Gold members could be more than 8 million fewer than Microsoft would like us to think. Likewise, the numbers for PlayStation Network aren't necessarily what you might expect them to be. There's no free or premium differentiation to be made among PSN members, but whether or not those are all members of the PS3's online community -- let alone owners of a PS3 or PSP -- remains unclear. MTV Multiplayer was able to obtain an ... (link)