According to a report from Forecasting and Analysing Digital Entertainment (FADE), Xbox Live Arcade is becoming quite the healthy source of income for Microsoft.
Based on FADE's estimates, during 2009 the service racked up $103.4 million in revenue, an increase of 34% over 2008's figures. This may have been helped by a rise in the average price of games, which went from $8.33 in 2008 to $9.12 in 2009.
By listing the revenue accrued by the service's best-selling games, FADE was also able to give us an idea of sales figures, something usually elusive for those following the fortunes of downloadable titles and the platforms they're available on.
For example, it's estimated that Battlefield 1943 sold over 800,000 units, while Castle Crashers - which had a well-publicised discount on the cusp of 2010 - might have sold over a million copies, and that's just during 2009.
FADE's complete top ten for estimated XBLA sales in 2009 is below.
* 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)

Xbox Live Arcade topped $100m in 2009 [Gamesindustry.biz]


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