I'm trying to get a sense of how profitable the independent video game
market is.  Specifically smaller low budget 2-D games.  Like the type
you can down load from realArcade.com. Pop cap games is another good
example.  The more specific the information the better e.g. this game
has sold x number of copies.

Well, There is one thing I definitly know. Certain websites, and
programs, such as popcap, or real arcade, usally make pretty popular
games. However, Many people think they over charge (average price
being around $29.99) and tend to try to "bootleg" or steal the games.
These low budget games are very easy to steal, I hear people in my
school talking about it all the time.

However, there are a lot of honost people out there, who pay for the
game. another point: when you buy a game online, you don't need a
disk, the game just downloads onto your computer. You usally get an
average of around 5 Resgistration key uses, that you can share with
you friends,family, etc...

Basicly, the fact that people use all these key uses, and half the
people who play these games steal them, It probly cuts the market
profits for these companys in half. I hope this information helps!

Probably the most widely known example of a successful indipendent
game is Alien Hominid, which was a flash game made and featured on
Newgrounds.com. Interest and popularity peaked and the game eventually
made it in an updated form onto tje  consoles gamecube and playstation
2.