XBLA August revenues estimated at $17.5m
FADE claims biggest month ever for Microsoft's download service, with 9 games earning over $500k each
Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade has had a banner month, bringing in a ballpark $17.5 million in revenue over August, according to market research group FADE.
FADE, an independent enterprise co-founded and invested in by members of VGchartz, does not have access to sales data, and instead based its figures on surveys and projections.
By its own yardstick, August 2010 saw a rise of 6 per cent the $16.5 million revenue rounded up at the same time last year - making this August the service's biggest ever month.
Nine downloadable games were approximated to have grossed in excess of half a million dollars, with Monday Night Combat the champ at $2.8 million and 187,000 units.
Other August success stories were the latest Castlevania ($2.0 million, 131,000 units) and July bestseller Limbo ($1.9 million, 128,000).
FADE calculated that the latter has now sold 334,000 units to date, though it stands in the tall shadow of Trials HD's estimated 1,005,000 lifetime sales – one of just four XBLA titles to shift over a million units.