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Number of PSN users hits 20 million

Plus: 4 million going Home, says Sony.

Sony has announced that over 20 million people have registered a PlayStation Network account, and that 4 million of those use PlayStation Home.

That's according to website VentureBeat, presumably reporting from the Destination PlayStation event in the US.

That PSN figure was 17 million back in January, and includes PS3, PSP and website sign-ups.

At last-count, Xbox Live had 17 million subscribers. Microsoft told us yesterday that over half of these are Gold members.

But comparisons could be misleading; Sony charges nothing for full PSN privileges, whereas Microsoft asks Gold members for GBP 40 every 12 months. The latter results in a whopping (and estimated) GBP 380 million each year.

Around a third of all Xbox 360 owners have yet to sign up for Live. However, nearly all PS3 owners claim a PSN account.

VentureBeat adds that there are more than 14,500 items on offer from PSN, and that over 380 million pieces have been downloaded, resulting in around USD 180 million changing hands.