Rare Says They Broke Even on Jetpac Refuelled

Nick Burton of Rare recently commented on the Xbox Live Arcade business model. XBLA titles don’t really offer extraordinary returns, but they do provide a “small but reasonable” revenue on a constant basis.

When questioned if Jetpac Refuelled was a commercial success, Burton stated, “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,” he continued.

XBLA sales tend to peak upon their debut, then quickly fall off to a lower, but stable level of sales Burton said.

“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. So then you have a guaranteed – small, but still reasonable revenue stream that’s constant.”