Along with launching DisneyXD last week, the big mouse also announced that recent ComScore data reveals that Disney Games takes third place among all online gaming destinations with 13.4M visitors in December 2008, a 13% increase yoy.  Reaching one further, ComScore’s January 2009 data sees Disney leapfrogging EA Games and grabbing the number 2 spot.

Disney’s not-so-secret ingredient?  Their free-to-play, virtual world Pixie Hollow.  According to Virtualworldsnews.com, a Disney representative explains the surge in traffic as, “largely driven by our virtual worlds, and specifically by the popularity of the new Disney Fairies Pixie hollow virtual world.”

And while Disney’s corporate policy dictates that no concrete numbers could be released, the rep also adds that Club Penguin has been a consistent driver for Disney, “but that the recent spike in Fairies traffic helped boost Disney last month.”

These numbers might seem large and impressive, but keep in mind that back in October Senior Vice President of Disney Online Steve Parkis stated, “More than 7 and a half million Fairies have already been created and, until now, have been all dressed up with no place to go. Now, in Pixie Hollow, Fairies can join their friends, take flight and live their very own Fairy adventures.”

To this end, it’s fair to say that Disney did they due diligence in ‘pre-loading’ the site with over 7.5M players that were ready and waiting for the magical world of Pixie Hollow to roll out the welcome mat.

The game itself is free-to-play, but similar to Disney’s Club Penguin, players may buy into a $5.99/month membership fee that gives them exclusive access to a number of game features.  Also noteworthy is Disney’s ‘real-world’ tie-ins to the online virtual world.  When played in the real-world, the companies’ Clickables Fairy collection rewards players with a number of special content unlocks that allow them to add unique clothing, accessories, and décor to their virtual world collection.

Disney may have taken the number two spot in online gaming destinations, but not all is well at Disney’s Interactive Studios.  Earlier this month in an earnings call, DIS made it quite clear that they’re in a similar bind as a number of other games publishers: falling prices.  Disney CFO Tom Staggs says that DIS sold more units last quarter, but ended up with less coinage in the bank due to, “a competitive and difficult market put pressure on pricing.”

Despite recent DIS layoffs, Staggs says that Disney expects to “continue to invest in… videogames, websites and virtual worlds.”

Given the problem facing the folks at DIS, combined with the massive growth in their free-to-play Pixie Hollow, I’d be interested in the revenue numbers Disney’s virtual world product sales are generating.  Is it time for Disney to seriously rethink how they’re monetizing the online and/or gaming space?