According to estimates from Forecasting and Analyzing Digital Entertainment (FADE), 2009 was a damn good year for Xbox LIVE Arcade. With more Xbox 360s in players’ hands and a number of stellar new digital releases, the service is said to have brought in $103.4 million.
Battlefield 1943 was the real winner here: 800,000 copies sold throughout the year. Even Castle Crashers, which was released in 2008, saw continued success in 2009. FADE estimates 485,000 sales, with total sales since the game’s launch falling near the 1,000,000 mark.
Estimated Top Titles by Revenue, 2009 (Average Price):
- Battlefield 1943 (EA Dice) – $12.5 million ($15.00)
- Castle Crashers (The Behemoth) – $7.3 million ($15.00)
- Trials HD (RedLynx, LTD) – $7.1 million ($15.00)
- Shadow Complex (Chair Entertainment / Epic Games) – $6.1 million ($14.38)
- Family Game Night (Hasbro) – $4.2 million ($9.53)
- Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (Capcom) – $4.2 million ($15.00)
- Magic: The Gathering (Stainless Games) – $2.8 million ($10.00)
- Worms 2 (Team 17) – $1.8 million ($10.00)
- Peggle (PopCap Games) – $1.8 million ($8.86)
- Turtles in Time: Reshelled (Ubisoft Singapore) – $1.7 million ($10.00)
This reports seems to confirm that even though people like to write off increasing digital download prices as something they won’t be involved with, and make such facts evident many times over on the Internet, these games still perform exceptionally well.
