Castle Crashers Rings In 2 Million Players

The colorful, spirited brawler Castle Crashers hit 2 million players on Xbox Live as of Christmas, developer The Behemoth announced last week, claiming the game is "among the first" XBLA titles to hit the milestone. The stat's based on unique gamertags and leaderboard data, says the team. Castle Crashers first reached the service in 2008 as part of Microsoft's regular "Summer of Arcade" promotion, and has been a critically-acclaimed fan favorite since then -- according to the studio, Castle Crashers is currently the highest player-rated game on XBLA. Designed for up to four players, the 2D sidescrolling adventure features colorful knights, quirky medieval environments, giant monsters and oddly tear-prone enemies all brought to life in the distinctive visual style of lead artist Dan Paladin (also seen in Alien Hominid, The Behemoth's 2004 title). "It is incredibly humbling to look at the leaderboards and see that crazy number," says the studio's Kelly Revak. "Initially releasing the game we hoped a few hundred thousand people would play it. We never dared to think of one million players, let alone 2 million." "We are so grateful to all the players for supporting us," Revak adds. "We’re going to do something pretty exciting to thank everyone. Let’s just say there’s an Xbox made of gold involved. GOLD.”