Apple Reveals 2010's Top Performing iPhone, iPad Games

Apple has revealed the most popular and highest-earning iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad Apps for 2010 thus far, including top-sellers in the highly competitive Games category. Apple's lists divide apps into three categories -- the most downloaded free apps; the top-selling paid apps and top-grossing apps (which includes both sale price and in-app purchases) -- and also further divides those categories into categories such including games. Chillingo's Angry Birds was a top performer across devices, cracking the top ten in terms of both gross and paid downloads on both the iPad and iPhone/iPod Touch, with a free Lite version reaching the top ten list for iPhone/iPod Touch downloads. The lite version of the company's Cut the Rope puzzle game was also a top free iPhone/iPod Touch download. Popcap also had cross-iOS-platform success, with paid versions of Plants vs. Zombies appearing on the top selling and grossing lists for both platforms. Bejeweled 2+ Blitz also appeared on the top ten sellers and grossers lists for the iPhone/iPod Touch In word games, Newtoy's Words with Friends showed up on all three iPhone/iPod Touch lists, while EA's licensed Scrabble achieved top sales and gross on the iPad. Game apps dominated overall app downloads on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Nine of the top ten paid iPhone/iPod Touch apps across all categories were games, as were seven of the ten top-grossing apps on the devices and five of the top ten free apps. On the iPad, however, games represented only two of the ten top-selling apps, one of the top-downloaded free apps and four of the ten top-grossing apps overall. Unlike Apple's regularly updated daily lists of to-selling and downloaded apps, which are tracked regularly here and on sister site GamerBytes, the 2010 lists are not ranked numerically. However, a look at the titles that reached the Top 10 gives some insight into the state of the iOS game market. For instance, despite the iPad's reputation for maintaining a higher average price point than the iPhone and iPod Touch, seven of the top ten selling games for the year are currently priced at $0.99. Five of the top-ten-grossing games on the device sell for $9.99, however, with only one $0.99 game cracking that list. On the iPhone/iPod Touch, Playforge's Zombie Farm managed to make the top-ten-grossing games list despite being offered as a free download. The full lists of 2010 sales and downloads so far for 2010 (in alphabetical order) are as follows: Most Downloaded Free iPhone/iPod Touch Games For 2010 Angry Birds Lite FallDown! Glow Hockey 2 FREE Pac-Man Lite Paper Toss ROCK BAND FREE Tap Tap Revenge 3 Unblock Me FREE Words With Friends Free Zombie Farm Top-Selling Paid iPhone/iPod Touch Games For 2010 Angry Birds $0.99 Bejeweled 2+ Blitz $0.99 Cut the Rope $0.99 Doodle Jump $0.99 Fruit Ninja $0.99 Gamebox 1 $0.99 Plants vs. Zombies $2.99 Skee-Ball $0.99 Tetris $2.99 Words With Friends $2.99 Top-Grossing iPhone/iPod Touch Games For 2010 Angry Birds $0.99 Bejeweled 2+ Blitz $0.99 Call of Duty: Zombies $4.99 Doodle Jump $0.99 Monopoly $2.99 Plants vs. Zombies $2.99 Tetris $2.99 The Sims 3 $2.99 Words With Friends $2.99 Zombie Farm FREE Most Downloaded Free iPad Games For 2010 Bubble Popper FREE City Story Farm Story Summer Hit Tennis 2 Pimple Popper Lite Pocket Frogs Restaurant Story Solitaire Stair Dismount Universal Texas Poker Top-Selling Paid iPad Games For 2010 Angry Birds HD $4.99 Cake Doodle $0.99 Monkey Preschool Lunchbox $0.99 Pinball HD $0.99 Plants vs. Zombies HD $0.99 Predators $0.99 Real Racing HD $9.99 Scrabble for iPad $9.99 Shanghai Mahjong $0.99 Slice It! $0.99 Top-Grossing iPad Games For 2010 Angry Birds HD $4.99 Flight Control HD $4.99 Labyrinth 2 HD $7.99 MADDEN NFL 11 $2.99 Need for Speed Shift iPad $9.99 Pinball HD $0.99 Plants vs. Zombies HD $9.99 Real Racing HD $9.99 Scrabble for iPad $9.99 X-Plane for iPad $9.99