8/30/08

By Benjamin Schlichter (BenSchlichter@Gmail.com)

There really aren't many words to describe what Castle Crashers did this week, with over 78,000 units. I knew that 'Crashers' was going to be big, but the market provided Crashers with a very robust opening, rivaling many boxed titles. It's already over $1.1 million USD in revenue, and has a very good shot at 250,000 before it's first month is over.

Could this usher a new era of downloadable titles? The Behemoth has proved that if a title, even digitally downloaded, can sell very well if there is proper marketing behind the title. Castle Crashers, for the most part has been the most hyped XBLA title of the year, and the sales have proved it.

But in other news:

• Fable 2 Pub Games continues to preform very, very well. With 3 weeks in the bag, it is holding very well, and selling a large portion of the units that we are counting, indicating many players aren't using their codes, but buying the title outright.
• Braid continues it's very strong run, with a very small 7% reduction in sales. With 1 week left for sales before it's first month is done, Braid is poised to sell 137,500 units it's first month, which is incredible given the start of the game.
• Galaga Legions sees a moderate increase vs. last week. As known last week, I felt that the tracking of the game was low, so this 60% increase in sales, week over week, is due to this undertracking. At any rate, it's doing rather well for a shmup in it's 2nd week.
• Bionic Commando: Rearmed had a decent drop this week. It is continuing to drop strongly, but will easily pass 100,000 in it's first month, and could do a decent bit more.
• Geometry Wars 2 finishes it's first full month on the market, with a record-breaking 153,000 units in it's first month. With a strong 48,000 debut, this 3x multiplier was expected. Geometry Wars 2 continues to have strong holds, and should sell well over the comin months.

Next Week: Shred Nebula & Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball