50% more US gamers used Xbox 360 for online play than PS3 in August, says Microsoft

Microsoft "proud and humbled to be the top online gaming service"

[mewhy32]

I'd say that's pretty close. But i look for that to flip flop with PS4 and the bone.

[dirigiblebill]

Flip flop, Microsoft, give a dog a Bone?

/may have just invented the next greatest folk tune

[shivvy24]

obviously there's gonna be 50% more people playing if x360 is outselling the ps3 by 50% in US ! What about worldwide stats ?

[xHeavYx]

"Says Microsoft"

[jackanderson1985]

@ xHeavYx it was more the NPD report for august saying it and Hryb just passing on the information... a bad title if anything

[shoddy]

They should to make thier money worth because they pay for it

[minimur12]

'proud and humbled'

so let's make a statement about it and let EVERYONE know.

[Mad Aizen]

NPD.

nuff said.

[NewMonday]

Not sure about the "humbled" part

Also considering the 360 has a 100% bigger install base in NA I thought the number would should be bigger

[FamilyGuy]

The word "humbled" doesn't fit whatsoever, MS is literally bragging about it, that far from being "humble"

360 install base is nearly double that of the PS3 in NA so this statistic is obvious/not all that surprising. vgc has it at 27mil ps3s to 44mil 360s

How do they measure something like this anyway? Number of online players in a month could only be known by the platform holders themselves. :/

[thechosenone]

Why does MS ignore the rest of the world..how freaking insulting.

[johndoe11211]

@thechosenone

They ignore the rest of the world because if they don't they'll have nothing to ever brag about.

[webeblazing]

I think it would be the same if they counted the world too. you have to pay for live to play online, that the get part about psn. but that gone I expect most buyers of the new systems to play online a lot since you have to pay.

[BISHOP-BRASIL]

@FamilyGuy

I believe NPD make polls for those statistic. If done right it can be accurate.

@webeblaze

I think you are way off there.

As others mentioned, with less than 25M PS3s sold in US, while XB360 stands at more than 45M sold on the same region (roughly 80% more MicroSoft's consoles sold than Sony's), it's not that impressive, if anything, online attach rate on PS3 is higher (as it's a 50% online lead against a 80% total sales lead for MS) and if you project that along with the fact PS3 sold more pretty much anywhere else than North America it would point at more PS3 owners online WW than Xbox 360 owners.

Obviously simply projecting this attach rate to worldwide numbers must be off too, different regions may have different online habits, but we don't even have to guess there, both Sony and MS had stated their number of players online multiple times and Sony always had more people with a PSN account than MS had silver and gold members combined... So, if anything, having to pay for online further discourage people to get online, not the other way around (as it should be obvious really, I don't get why you think otherwise).

And it's even harder to project this numbers over next gen. As this article makes obvious many people this gen still kept their consoles either mostly or completelly offline. Eve if now both next consoles can be played offline, obviously this is still not the ideal scenario, even more so than on this gen, next gen consoles are heavily online focused (and unfortunatelly both charge to play online)... It's hard to predict how this portion of gaming community will react to this, they may get more online as it's simply needed to or they could even feel like skipping both PS4 and XB1 altogether (potentially even slowing down sales), so I really wouldn't even guess on how will both charging for online play affect next gen online attach rate right now.

[Deltaohio]

@bishob-br
Not saying PSN didn't have a lot of ppl playing but I would have to wonder how many accounts are real? If it cost nothing to make an account how many were made with no intention of being a permanent account? How many troll accounts? How many ppl banned on one account just to create another? How many created at a friends house just because?

Even if there that many more accounts that doesn't mean ppl are using them to play online.

[GamerzElite]

What abt outside US?

[buynit]

What about It?

[MRMagoo123]

outside the US the numbers would favour sony so they wont mention them lol of course live had more ppl online in the US , the 360 sold over double the ps3 in the US.

[Blaze929]

why are people trying to downplay the significance of this by saying, "well duh in the US."

Like world wide would change anything about that. Is it so hard to just say, "congratulations Microsoft"?

Always gotta be a reasoning or half-truth with you all. sad

[TI_21]

Which significance does it have outside the US? None, that's why. Keep on living in your bubble.

[3-4-5]

Most 360 games are reliant upon online Multiplayer.

A healthy portion of PS3 games are single player only experiences.

Therefore, more people may be playing online for xbox, but it doesn't mean more people in TOTAL are playing the xbox than PS3.

This is Microsoft creating a stat and hoping nobody does what I just did and break it down logically.

[UnholyLight]

I can't tell if you're serious, or just trolling...

[Deltaohio]

Totally agree. I see ppl playing games skyrim and drakes uncharted on PS where I see most 360 players playing some FPS.

[Magicite]

The Bravado Microsoft.

[2cents]

That's because all they have all been online bashing the Xbox one. lol

No time for gaming when there is competition to stamp out.

[candoa]

If you guys really believe pre orders are an accurate representation of the console sales once it hits the store you guys are loonies. ONce the x1 hits retail store it would be received by the casual gamer with open arms. ps4 has nothing for the casual gamers and x1 kinect has a lot, and believe price is not a problem for a father that wants to please his kid.

[GoodnessGreatness]

casual gamers will see the price and get the cheaper one especially if that option has the better specs and value. Kinect is just a novelty that everyone will forget about after a copule of days of playing.

[xDHAV0K24x]

Whats the bone?

[Rimeskeem]

Lol i wanna see these stats when the ps2 was around

[Bzone24]

50% more is close? From all the talk about the PS4 and the Xbox One on this site lately, I was thinking 50% more was an incredible, insurmountable amount. I thought you were king if it was said that you had 50% more. Was I misinformed?

[Deltaohio]

Lmao so true

[BobBelcher]

I can see this.
This makes sense.

[DragonKnight]

US gamers maybe. Global gamers doubtful.

[Wikkid666]

That's probably why it says US gamers and not global.

[DragonKnight]

Yeah duh. That's why I said "US Gamers maybe" first. Mission failed Captain Obvious.

[Wikkid666]

Read your statement to me... and put it in place for your 1st comment. That's what my point was. Someone might be a little slow.

[DragonKnight]

Your point is irrelevant though. Either as a restatement of what I said, or as the more likely Captain Obvious moment, either statement was unnecessary to what I said.

[Wikkid666]

You are definitely not very bright... and you prove my point.

[DragonKnight]

Again, everything you're saying is irrelevant.

You're literally the only person who felt that what I said needed any kind of clarification or explanation. Everything you say is pointless and incorrect. Which you seem to enjoy.

I get you're thinking that I was the Captain Obvious, but you're the only one that needed a clarification, needed to actually come out said "hurr durr, that's why they said U.S. and not global." Yeah, no sh*t sherlock, that's not the point.

[Nicxel]

"US gamers MAYBE"....maybe? I'm pretty sure the word you're looking for is DEFINITELY!

[DragonKnight]

Careful now. Captain Obvious is going to throw his tantrum all over you.

[christocolus]

im not really surprised...the service is great and so is the community ..all my pals play on xbx live even those who own the ps3 like me....the service alone is the reason why many gamers will still go with the xbx one anyday..especially in the states.

[Insomnia_84]

"...and so is the community"

lol

[torchic]

if you're a racist, homophobic 13-year-old then yeah! XBL community is the bees-knees man!

[christocolus]

you have a problem with the xbx live community?then state it and stop baby trolling...as for me i dont. most of those on my xbx live friends list are those i met online and they are great to play with..iv never really had major issues with jerks online and so far my experience has been great..i cant remember waiting hours for my games to start up and thats cos the xbx live community is large and active..you always find someone to play with and the service itself is very satisfactory...so whats your deal dude?

[Trekster_Gamer]

Sonybot troll leave....

[mrpsychoticstalker]

Jealous SONYBOT. lol ps notwork, even if you change providers, pay ur bill on time, have the latest modem, router. all you need is a lot of patience.

[QSPR]

ok let me se here, are you saying that Xbox live it's great or better than PSN that's the reason ppl jump over Xbox one??? are you try already PSN on PS4???? give me a break, I know Xbox live is good, of course you are paying for a service, or you spec to get a bad service even if you pay for it? I don't think so. PSN on PS3 is good or equal to XBL for been a FREE service! now as soon as new gen start we can see difference and complain about it .

[christocolus]

dude read my comment properly, understand it and stop trying to look for underlying meanings or a secret agenda..not everyone actually has the time and energy to do the battle of the consoles..i certainly aint doing that. ..i have stated an opinion based on my experience if you dont like it then kindly feel free to disagree...

[Sayai jin]

@Chris- Do not bother trying to explain things to certain people. It is hard for the (insert whatever console here) extremist to understand someone that is not a soldier in this imaginary console war; or that they are biased and is just stating the personal experince.

[colinf438]

I bought a 360 to go with my ps3 so I could play halo and what not, and I have to say it was a absolutley terrible experience. My friend list would delete each time I logged off, and half the time I couldnt join my friends games.... for me it was garbage. Specially considering sont offers the same experience at NO cost and far less problems. (This is MY experience, not saying its a truth for all xbx live users)

[Trekster_Gamer]

Don't blame your crappy internet connection on XBL.

I own both and XBL is far and away a better service,
Gaming,social,marketplace are much more streamlined.

[Prcko]

great ,now show us WW numbers and we can talk...

[InTheZoneAC]

people who play 360 online are probably playing call of duty or battlefield, most likely call of duty

ps3, you have way too many other options to be stuck with some fundamentally flawed game with aim assist

all the people I know that have a 360, if they ever talk about it it's always CoD.

[GodGinrai]

cod is also the most played game online on PS3 aswell.....

[monkey602]

Battlefield is said to have a more active community of the ps3 actually.
This is cherry picking though. Doubt the stats would sound that impressive on a glabal scale

[Majin-vegeta]

Here you go.
http://bf3stats.com/

[GodGinrai]

30K is quite low. 16K for 360 is pretty bad.

Active COD Users is usually in the six figures on a good day it in the millions.

[Sayai jin]

@InTheZone-Does it matter what games they play. There are a lot of options on both consoles for online. I play Gears, GTA5, etc on Xbox Live...do not play COD at all online. I play games like TLOU, Killzone on PSN. Its a mixed. Also, if you dg around the internet you will see that COD online play makes up the largest numbers on PSN as well compared to games like TLOU.

[webeblazing]

pretty sure all shooters for consoles have aim assist

[TheFallenAngel]

Didn't the 360 sold about twice as much as the ps3 in USA? Why is this a surprise? Major nelson a douchebag.

[Hicken]

Aren't there significantly more 360s than PS3s in the US? Like two or threefold or even more?

Why is this a surprise, especially with NCAA and Madden released?

[voodoogts]

XBL gots a great interface, apps, and service compared to Ps3

[FITgamer]

PS3 "gots" a pretty identical service. XBL use to be way ahead of PSN, but that's not the case any more.

[fhizikz]

Live is still better. Me and my friend went went sony after 5 years on live psn is not better. The free games ok but that's it. We are always texting each other to find a game yea it was pretty bad comin from live

[MysticStrummer]

Not that surprising, given the lead MS has in the US. If the two were even, or Sony was leading, then this would be significant. As it is, it would be pretty sad if MS didn't have more people online here. This is a PR announcement that really means very little.

[kwyjibo]

I have no idea why console gamers have embraced pay-for-online.

Even all the Sony fans complaining about it originally have done a 180.

[shivvy24]

When you think about it, ps+ is worth it but I do agree online should be free

[TXIDarkAvenger]

Pretty much why I won't buy into next-gen consoles. I don't have time to play everyday so paying a subscription is just absurd.

[ruefrak]

Nobody knows online gaming better than Microsoft, says Microsoft.

[truewittness]

Yeah because all the playStation gamers are posting on n4g...kidding kidding, don't crucify me. But in all seriousness, having to pay to play on psn on ps4, the statisics will likely stay the same. And because every Xbox console is so online motivated.

[DanielGearSolid]

"Proud and humbled" isnt that an oxymoron

[svoulis]

I am just curious on these stats. How exactly the got the numbers...

On another note.

I have other games that aren't multiplayer to play..on PS3 that are good fun. I played the Last of Us 3 times. I will be on my second playthrough of Beyond Two Souls Soon. I just recently Played MGS4. God Of War Ascension.

Just saying. I do think Xbox Live is a great service for games like COD, BF, Halo. But there isn't much other offerings on Microsofts court for single player gaming.

[paul-p1988]

And in other news, 100% more gamers were playing a PS3 in Japan...

Spinning figures is easy, maybe i should make a job of this lol

[1Victor]

I'l LOL If Sony Do That With The Japan Numbers

[DA_SHREDDER]

I've lost of interest since my subscription for FF is up already. I'm waiting for the ps4 so much I've lost total interest for this gen. Not that I wont use my ps3 anymore, but because the technology is gonna be more advanced, and therefore so much better, plus we gettin gaikai with our scripts. Im being patient. GTA horde mode has been fun, but I need KZ that its killing me inside.

[OrangePowerz]

How can they get stats? I can see how they get stats for the 360, but how did they get the stats for the PS3?

[GentlemenRUs]

The hint is in the title...

50% UNITED STATES players... Not the world ;)

[DialgaMarine]

"...Says Microsoft." If I remember correctly, they also said they had the best seliing console of the gen, back in 2012. So M$, why don't you give us these same stats for The rest of the world? ;)

[yarbie1000]

If you read the article then you would see that those numbers are actually according to NPD - Not some number Microsoft just dreamed up.

Maybe you can access the NPD report and see the global numbers. Not sure - Think you have to pay for them. I could be wrong on that though

[DialgaMarine]

All I'm saying is M$ doesn't exactly have a history of honesty. People should take what they say with a grain of salt.

[TimeSkipLuffy]

I was busy playing great games like the Last of Us offline... XD not an online gamer anyway :3

[gamingisnotacrime]

It is possible, anyway battlefield 3 on ps3 has very strong community so to me the online % on the US is not a big deal

[wishingW3L]

but there are like 40 millions X360 in the USA compared to like only 20 millions PS3. And even then, those percentages are pretty low compared to the disparity in consoles sold on that region.

[gamingisnotacrime]

You just stated that the xbox sold 100% more than the ps3 (double the console). Is this true or just a missed interpretation of what 50% more means?

both consoles are awesome, I prefer my ps3 but at thesame time enjoy my xhox a lot

[YodaCracker]

You're forgetting that Xbox Live is a paid service and PSN is not, so those numbers are pretty high.

[Themba76]

this will change next gen Im also a 360 owner who has never played a ps3 or a ps2 and im defecting to sony. Why? because I am sick and tired of M$'s draconian policies also I miss jrpg's gettin sick of just fps. sorry M$ my info isn't for sale to advertising agencies and I hate the kinect gimmick I do not own one for my 360 and don't want one if I got one for free. it's time for a change.

[infectedaztec]

I'd recommend trying the PS3 before jumping ship. Its a great machine and with TLOU it has surpassed the 360 graphics wise...but thats all I can say it has going for it.

Loading times are slower and I dont care what any sony fanboy says - the online play is significantly worse than live (I have recent PSN experience playing TLOU and FIFA 14). The controller is a big thing for me too but thats more of a personal choice - some people prefer the DS3 but I think the 360 controller is miles ahead.

I'm not being biased here- the PS3 is a better piece of hardware and has had the better exclusives over the last 18 months but there I things I took for granted with the 360 that I missed when I moved to ps3.

Do what you want but don't think the playstation will offer the exact same service the xbox did....they both have strenghts just be aware of the ones your picking

[felidae]

... and it will be the same next generation.

XBox has always been the overall better system!

I ordered a PS4 just to play KZSF

[Funantic1]

Xbox Live will be one reason why the Xbone will sell very well in the US and UK. So many people from these places have become accustomed to the service and speed of XBL. Eventually when the X1 goes down in price most gamers in the US and UK will get a X1. It'll probably outsell the PS4 in these areas again unless Sony combines sales of the PS3 and PS4 together like they did with the PS2 and PS3. All the game websites have said that Sony combined both including N4G. The 360 outsold the PS3 in worldwide sales because MS deals with 360 sales only and "sold" numbers. Sony combined PS2/PS3 sales and deals with "shipped" numbers...big difference. http://www.gamespot.com/art...

http://www.gamechup.com/son...

[Lazarus69]

Thats not even remotely true the PS3 outsold the XBOX360 just except it.Also Sony only combine the fiscal year numbers for PS3 & PS2 not the the overall total.The guy who wrote the article you linked didn't have a clue.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

The Xbox brand dominates in the states. 360 has outsold PS3 for thee past 32 months straight.

Expect the trend to continue next gen.

The rest of the world however will be a different story.

[Spontogical]

Um Microsoft aren't there 50%+ more 360's sold in the US than PS3's?

:/

[Sayai jin]

All the down play, why? The article says in NA and we all no the 360 launched a year ahead of the PS3. Why are people making excuses. It is what it is. Xbox Live is a very popular service and has been steadily improving for over almost 15 yrs. I really enjoy XBL. It is what it is people. If there was an article noting that the PS3 has had the best exclusives the last few years it would be what it is. To note I have been enjoying my PS3 more as far as exclusives the last few years. MS lost their focus in the exclusive arena.

[speed389]

EVERYONE!!!!! just trust Microsoft and there word on everything... they are soooo trustworthy....

[medziarz]

Yea, PS4 is comming, these are the last months, so enjoy your victory while it lasts.

[KontryBoy706]

Watch how this number changes after November 15th

[QuickdrawMcgraw]

50% more US 360 users playing online then PS3 users.100% more PS3 users playing brand new exclusives then 360 users.

[Red_Devilz]

Did you take into account 54% RROD rate of 360?

[Rayansaki]

A lot of people are mentioning that this is only US and not worldwide, which is probably true, but the biggest thing is: Microsoft knows jack shit about PSN access numbers. It's literally impossible for them to make this claim unless Sony released their numbers, which they do every now and then, but haven't done in a while, certainly not in August.

[mochachino]

No question that MS claimed the US this round, with Sony taking the rest of the world.

Interesting to see if Sony retakes the US with the coming gen.

[Red_Devilz]

"50% more US gamers used Xbox 360 for online play than PS3 in August, says Microsoft"....and STILL MS tried to Fk them with stupid policies and bull$hit gimmicks.

Fixed.

BTW, Wow MS, thats a nice way to say "Thank you"

[ALARM-clock]

Enjoy it while it lasts, MS.

[Welcome2Die]

Hey they may be right, I havent touched an online game in months!

[horndog]

But the piss station network is free!!

[badkolo]

i gotta laugh every time some moron on n4g spouts 50% more powerful, im telling you now, when the launch games come out there better be proof, i better see the exclusives on the ps4 look better the the x1 games and the multiplat games better be better looking to some degree, or else you can shove that 50% more power straight up your candy arse

[Nintenja]

You can look at any game forum and see these numbers reflect. 360 forums are usually twice as active as PS3 on dev sites.