Back in late March, developer Doublesix released a game on the PlayStation Network called Burn Zombie Burn. In a recent conversation with GI.biz, studio head James Brooksby revealed the game's sales figures, and addressed an issue that he thinks is important for the future of downloadable games. First of all, the game sold 70,000 digital copies. For games like The Conduit or MadWorld, 70,000 copies translates into a disappointing retail showing. However, for a smaller, downloadable game like Burn Zombie Burn, 70,000 is not too shabby.

Brooksby thinks it's important for developers of downloadable games to start to be more transparent with their sales statistics, as he believes that kind of honesty will benefit these types of games in the long run.

"As a developer trying to decide which platforms to develop for, as well as what type of games to make, we’re currently in the dark regarding real sales performance for digital platforms and that makes it increasingly difficult to make realistic plans. I’d like to see some kind of verified sales charts on all digital systems to encourage more developers to support these channels and to help make sensible investment decisions."

It does seem odd that although there are firms like NPD that are responsible for tracking the retail sales of console games, there is no similar group tracking the sales numbers of games that are distributed digitally. It will be interesting to see if other developers agree with Brooksby and start to become more open about digital sales figures.