iPhone app record: Crash Bandicoot downloaded close to a million times, nets $4 million

If you want to see how high iPhone applications sales can go, look no further than Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D, the Vivendi Games Mobile produced iPhone game.  While no official numbers have been released, Apple is saying that it is the number one all time downloaded game, ahead of Koi Pond.  Koi Pond, the $.99 app that simulates a Japanese fish pond, is the second highest selling app of all time and the New York Times puts its number at 900,000 downloads.

If those numbers hold true, that means that Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D is closing in on a million downloads if it hasn’t already surpassed that (the first paid app to do so).  Additionally, at a significantly higher $5.99 per download, it took in a lot more money.  Probably at least $4 million after Apple takes its cut.

This shows that the iPhone App Store can be a huge success both for indy developers like Koi Pond as well as commercial houses like Vivendi.