Microsoft today announced that during the five-week course of its Summer of Arcade initiative, the Xbox Live service saw a 58 percent increase in unique members purchasing titles. Additionally, total revenue figures the month of August surpassed the monthly high by 67 percent.

“At E3, we committed to re-focusing the Xbox LIVE Arcade business, vowing to release bigger and better games while focusing on quality and not quantity,” said Marc Whitten, general manager of Xbox LIVE. “The debut of the new strategy proved to be a huge success, with the Summer of Arcade making August the highest grossing month to date. But the focus on quality games doesn’t stop with the Summer of Arcade. We have plenty more great titles coming out in the next few months and beyond that we think will continue to fuel this incredible momentum.”

It’s a shame we don’t get to see exact sales figures, but going by Microsoft’s growth calculations, it looks like retail-quality titles such as Braid, Bionic Commando: Rearmed, and Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 are raising consumer interest in digital content — considerably.

The Numbers are in: August was a Scorcher for Xbox LIVE Arcade

Sure, we are coming off a long, hot summer, but it was Xbox LIVE Arcade that really made things sizzle. Critics agree: With the season’s best games released over the span of five weeks, the Summer of Arcade brought new players to the Xbox LIVE Arcade service in record pace. “Castle Crashers” “Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2,” “Bionic Commando: Rearmed,” “Galaga Legions,” and “Braid” delighted gamers of all pedigrees and drove the most successful season on record for the downloadable games service.

Over the course of the five-week Summer of Arcade program there was a 58 percent increase in unique members purchasing titles, and August broke the monthly revenue high by 67 percent. August was also the first time that an Xbox LIVE Arcade game landed in the top 3 most-viewed pages on Xbox.com. The reason for all of this success? The games were really good.

“Castle Crashers,” an adventure title that came to the service on Aug. 27, currently sits at the No. 1 spot for the Top 10 Xbox LIVE Arcade games being played on the service today. In fact, it is being called a stand-out title for all of Xbox LIVE Arcade. “Braid,” a puzzle-platformer released on Aug. 6 quickly climbed the charts to become the No. 1 highest-rated game of all time on Xbox LIVE Arcade. “Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2” and “Bionic Commando: Rearmed” also have spots in the Top 10!

“At E3, we committed to re-focusing the Xbox LIVE Arcade business, vowing to release bigger and better games while focusing on quality and not quantity,” said Marc Whitten, general manager of Xbox LIVE. “The debut of the new strategy proved to be a huge success, with the Summer of Arcade making August the highest grossing month to date. But the focus on quality games doesn’t stop with the Summer of Arcade. We have plenty more great titles coming out in the next few months and beyond that we think will continue to fuel this incredible momentum.”

The service is geared up to continue on the record-breaking path with even more blockbuster titles, like “Portal: Still Alive,” “South Park” and “R-Type Dimensions,” slated to hit Xbox LIVE Arcade in the coming months.

Looks like this winter could be heating up…

Read more: Geometry Wars 2 Detailed, Dated For August 6, Microsoft Details Summer XBLA Lineup, Win 100,000 MS Points, WiiWare Devs Lash Out Against Xbox Live Arcade, GDC: 512MB Memory Unit for Xbox 360, Live Arcade Also Coming To PC