XBLA is a "slaughterhouse" for smaller developers

[De85]

shio said:

Murray's session included his own stats collated from Xbox Live Arcade, which he presented with the caveat that there were not official figures, but he believed them to be realistic.

Of titles on XBLA that were self-published without the assistance of third-parties, Murray claimed 47 per cent sold less than 25,000 copies, 23 per cent sold around 100,000 copies, 13 per cent 200,000 copies and 17 per cent more than 200,000.

The guy states flat out that these are not official figures, but just his expectations.  To argue  them as if they are fact is competely asinine...

All I know from my own experience with XBLA titles is that the cream rises to the top.  The XBLA library is sortable by user ratings so even smaller budget games from lesser known developers will be noticed if they're rated highly by those who have actually played them.  Word gets around.