As far as videogames go, Japan has always been owned by Japanese-based companies. That doesn’t appear to be changing, as Sony has announced that their PSN service has reached the 1 million mark in terms of unique users. This announcement comes on the heals of Kaz Hirai’s statement earlier this month that on a worldwide basis, the PSN has over 8 million user accounts. When you take into account the fact that the Xbox 360 hasn’t even sold a million consoles in Japan, it’s pretty telling that the PS3 already has 1 million gamers using their online service.

In comparison to the Xbox LIVE service which reached the 10 million mark back in January, the PS3 still has a little ways to go. Also, you have to keep in mind that many of those Xbox LIVE accounts are Gold and Microsoft is collecting 50 big ones every year for each one of those. Numbers like those kind of make you wonder how many Xbox LIVE users there would be if the premium features such as playing online were available for no cost as they are on the PSN. Oh, the possibilities.

Sony also noted that they are receiving roughly 400,000 visits to the PLAYSTATION Store every month, so perhaps the money that gamers are saving on the service itself are being used on actual games. What an amazing development! Anyway, the PSN is coming along nicely and while the matchmaking and hosting methods aren’t quite as smooth as the Xbox LIVE service, it’s still nice to know that gamers are spending money through the PSN either way. Game on, I say. Game on.