Xbox Gaming in South Africa

Research firm FADE (Forecasting & Analyzing Digital Entertainment) has revealed that Microsoft's Xbox LIVE Arcade service managed to rake in over $46 million in the first half of this year. If things go according to analysts' forecasts, 2010 could prove to be the biggest earning year yet for XBLA.

The brains at FADE attribute a large part of the impressive upturn to the Block Party promotion, with games such as Toy Soldiers and Perfect Dark pulling in $4.6 million and $2.4 million respectively. Sales were also helped by the Inventory Blowout Sale which saw multiple top titles receiving price drops. Memo to Microsoft: Price drops on newish titles aren't a bad idea!

With the 2010 Summer of Arcade in full swing, along with the forecasted impact of both Kinect and the Xbox 360 S console, FADE expects to see year end earnings somewhere between $130 million and $140 million. As usual, these sort of figures will surely bring big fat smiles to the faces of all the suits over at Microsoft Redmond, and hopefully means we'll see even more XBLA titles from upcoming developers.

Below is FADE's Top 10 estimates for H1 2010:

• Toy Soldiers (Signal Studios) - $4.6 million (1200 Microsoft Points)
• Trials HD (RedLynx) - $4.4 million (800 - 1200 Microsoft Points)
• Castle Crashers (The Behemoth) - $2.9 million (800 - 1200 Microsoft Points)
• Battlefield 1943 (EA DICE) - $2.5 million (800 - 1200 Microsoft Points)
• Perfect Dark (4J Studios) - $2.4 million (800 Microsoft Points)
• Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (Capcom) - $1.8 million (800 - 1200 Microsoft Points)
• Family Game Night (EA Bright Light) - $1.7 million (400 - 800 Microsoft Points)
• Shadow Complex (Chair Entertainment) - $1.2 million (800 - 1200 Microsoft Points)
• Magic: The Gathering (Stainless Games) - $900,000 (800 Microsoft Points)
• Call of Duty Classic (Infinity Ward) - $800,000 (1200 Microsoft Points)