Forecasting and Analyzing Digital Entertainment (FADE) has released its annual report for Nintendo’s WiiWare and Virtual Console services for 2009. And it’s all good news with the firm estimating that both platforms generated $125 million in revenue for 2009. The Virtual Console just pipped the WiiWare service with $66 million in comparison to $59 million.

FADE is a strategic market research and consulting firm that strives to provide “data for a digital world”. It monitors Steam, Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare, Virtual Console and mobile markets and provides reports in order to help small developers to make informed decisions about these potential sources of revenue. It hopes to offer reports for the PlayStation Network and DSI Ware soon.

Growth and decline

Although WiiWare grew by over 30% in 2009, Virtual Console dropped by roughly 25% and thus recorded a 6% year-over-year decline. FADE attributes this decline to “an overall weaker and less numerous release schedule in 2009, combined with a promotion by Nintendo to give away a free NES game to Wii owners who had purchased the Wii Internet Channel” – a promotion which led to over 500 000 free downloads.

As expected in the downloadable market the top titles gobbled up most of the revenue, with the top 20 WiiWare games (10% of the market) taking in almost 70% of the revenue. The top 50 games on Virtual Console (again marking 10% of the market) took in almost 80% of the revenue. The majority of the titles on both services saw less than 10 000 lifetime sales due to the “top-heavy nature of the market.”

Top titles

FADE explains: “One important detail to point out is that while the Nintendo dominates among the classic titles on the Virtual Console, taking in 76% of revenue on that platform, WiiWare is a different story altogether. That platform has proven much more hospitable to third parties, with Nintendo only earning 16% of WiiWare revenue.” The firm believes that WiiWare will continue to grow in 2010, notching up $75 million in sales, while Virtual Console will keep on declining, taking in approximately $60 million.

Last but not least, FADE revealed an estimate of the top Western downloadable Wii titles by revenue for 2009. The Western markets for the purposes of this list include North and South America, Europe, and Australia (to the exclusion of Japan and Korea) and are listed in US dollars.

Estimated Top Western Downloadable Wii Titles by Revenue, 2009 (Price in USD)

• Super Mario Bros. 3 (Nintendo, NES) - $5,000,000 ($5.00)
• World of Goo (2D Boy, WiiWare) - $4,800,000 ($15.00)
• Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo, NES) - $3,300,000 ($5.00)
• Super Mario World (Nintendo, SNES) - $2,900,000 ($8.00)
• Super Mario 64 (Nintendo, N64) - $2,700,000 ($10.00)
• Tetris Party (Hudson, WiiWare) - $2,600,000 ($12.00)
• Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the (Nintendo, N64) - $2,300,000 ($10.00)
• Pokémon Rumble (Nintendo, WiiWare) - $2,200,000 ($15.00)
• Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, the (Nintendo, N64) - $2,100,000 ($10.00)
• My Pokémon Ranch (Nintendo, WiiWare) - $2,000,000 ($10.00)