Live Arcade titles offer 'small but constant' revenue stream - Rare

Speaking at the Develop conference this week, Rare's Nick Burton said that while Xbox Live Arcade titles may not offer huge returns, they can provide a "small but reasonable" revenues on a constant basis.

Burton's comments came in a Q&A session following his presentation on the making of Jetpack Refuelled. When asked by an audience member if the game was a commercial success Burton replied, "If you want to measure it in success in that we broke even - we're in the black, so that's good.

"But Live Arcade games tend to sell for a long period of time... You don't tend to get the same sales with Live Arcade that you do with an on-shelf product."

According to Burton, sales of XBLA titles often peak immediately following release before quickly falling to a lower but more stable level.

"There is a tendency to drop down to a few hundred sales a day, and then just stay at that for as long as [XBLA] hosts it," Burton said.

"So then you have a guaranteed - small, but still reasonable revenue stream that's constant."