Analyst firm FADE (Forecasting & Analyzing Digital Entertainment) has released a report that examines the growth of Xbox Live Arcade over the last year, showing that revenues from the service for 2012 were double that of 2011, at a record $290 million USD.
Naturally, the top seller was Minecraft, the Xbox 360 version of which sold 4,997,000 units last year and contributed $97,388,000 to that $290 million total (i.e. about a third of the annual revenues for Xbox Live Arcade). The rest of the chart of “Estimated Top Ten XBLA Titles in 2012” is really interesting, especially because of the dramatic jump between first and second place and then again between third and fourth.
After Minecraft, the top seller was Trials Evolution, which sold 1,002,000 units and made $14,298,000. The Walking Dead isn't too far behind with more units – 2,615,000 – but less money: $10,277,000. But then after that, the rest of the top ten all made between $2.7 and $4 million, much closer together and much less than any of the top three. If you want to check out the full chart, head over to the FADE website and let us know if the rest of the top ten are as you expected or if you spot any surprises.
