As per the Research & Analysis division of analyst firm Forecasting & Analyzing Digital Entertainment, LLC (FADE), Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade market has set a record for annual revenues at $290 million USD, doubling last year’s revenue.
Minecraft saw the lion’s share of revenues during the year, generating an estimated $97.4 million USD - one-third of the entire market, and greatly surpassing all other titles during the year. Launched on May 9th, the title finished the year selling over 500,000 copies in December alone. “Minecraft has been beyond impressive”, said Benjamin Schlichter, Director of Research & Analysis at FADE “Not only is it the top-grossing title in XBLA history, it achieved the feat in approximately three weeks”.
Evolution and Dead Do Well
Although Minecraft can easily claim all accolades for its 2012 performance, other titles still saw great success in the year. Trials Evolution secured a notable 2nd-place finish, selling just over 1 million units and an estimated $14.3 million USD. Adventure game series The Walking Dead sold (and gave away) an estimated 2.6 million units, or $10.3 million USD in revenues. From there, the top ten drops precipitously, with no other title coming close to the $10 million barrier.
Estimated Top Ten XBLA Titles in 2012, Ordered by Gross Revenues
- Minecraft (4J Studios) - 4,997,000 Units / $97,388,000
- Trials Evolution (RedLynx, LTD) - 1,002,000 Units / $14,298,000
- The Walking Dead (TellTale Games) - 2,615,000 Units / $10,277,000
- Counterstrike: GO (Valve) - 273,000 Units / $3,973,000
- Castle Crashers (The Behemoth) - 252,000 Units / $3,778,000
- Gotham City Impostors (Monolith Productions) - 258,000 / $3,698,000
- I Am Alive (Ubisoft) - 245,000 Units / $3,609,000
- Tony Hawk’s PS HD (Robomodo) - 226,000 Units / $3,261,000
- Alan Wake’s American Nightmare (Remedy Entertainment) - 206,000 Units / $2,903,000
- Trials HD (RedLynx, LTD) - 203,000 / $2,799,000
