Out with old, Xbox Live Arcade delisting
Xbox Live Arcade developers take note…start bribing for higher review scores now. In a recent inteview with Next-Gen, General Manager of Xbox Live, Marc Whitten, announced details to delist older, underperforming Xbox Live Arcade titles. What this means is that older Xbox Live Arcade titles will be removed and no longer available.
“The way it will work is that the title will need to be at least 6 months old and have a Metacritic score below 65 and a conversion rate below 6% on the service. This way titles are not just considered if they are not selling well or not getting good reviews, but actually a combination of both,” Whitten said.
I’m not sure on the strategy behind this really. On one hand I think it’s cool to get rid of the crap like Yaris and it also might lead to better games on XBLA. And on the other hand, I just don’t know. Why download these games only to have a title that you love removed because of low scores and low conversion? I may have to delete that game at some point and then come back to it later but won’t be able to. So I suppose we should all pick very wisely what we enjoy. At least the plan is to give everyone a head’s up with a 3-month notice on games that are being removed.
And does this not give too much power to reviews and opinions in the media? Developers should get a proper strategy together for sites that are included in Metacritic scores because a low score could signal the end. Should we expect under the table deals between developers and reviewers now? Or perhaps this will lead the way to a user review system much like the peer review system in the XNA Creators Club? I think that would be the best alternative instead of using opinions from “game reviewers” in any decision to delist a title. Let the consumers who actually spend Microsoft Points on these games rate them.
Along with delisting, gamers should probably expect higher priced XBLA titles with the increase of the allowed size to 350MB. It appears the recently released Penny Arcade Adventures is the first to take advantage of the “bigger and better games cost more” idea. If 1600 Microsoft Points is to be the norm because of the increase in size, then I say lower the size back to 150MB dammit! Will we be able to even call it the arcade and expect quick fun when it appears that full games will soon find their way to the Live Arcade?
Also worth mentioning is the fact that a fix to existing DRM issues appears to be on the way. In June, consumers will be able to re-license and consolidate their games to a console allowing offline play. I’m eager to see if this goes as well as planned. No more getting punked by DRM? We shall see. And one last bit of interesting news surrounded the Spring Update. Marc mentions that users shouldn’t expect the usual assortment of cosmetic changes often associated with the update as resources are being shifted to focus on more backend changes instead.
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May 22nd, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Microsoft is officially stupid - By delisting XBLA games that people paid money for, they get screwed by not having the option to recover the game again if they decide to delete it, or download it again (Replacement 360)… Good way to get screwed by losing the game(s) that you once paid for.
May 22nd, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Microsoft has been drinking crazy cat piss.
May 22nd, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Hi, buddy. I’m of the opinion (and have voiced it to different blogs) that we should get all XBLA titles sorted by downloads, based on periods like Last Month, Last Year and Total. That way it would help us decide if I take my chances on a title because I’m a fan of it or simple disregard it because (if it’s multiplayer) I won’t find anyone to play it with.
Anybody playing Word Puzzle??? Hello? Oh great, now how am I going to get the multiplayer achievement?!?
Peace
(and before I forget, after hearing the last podcast, please receive a big hugh and great regards from the fans down here in Venezuela! We do love you, Deacon)
May 22nd, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Sucks… and I think if they do something like this and I can’t get that title again, then I should get credit for another title then. What is the end result, is it a space issue? Come on these things are small.
May 22nd, 2008 at 5:17 pm
I will never buy a XBL arcade game now, or any Xbox DLC game.. In fear that it will one day get delisted.
Dumb move Microsoft.
May 22nd, 2008 at 5:19 pm
I’m surprised they’re actually doing this. Hmm I wonder what the first 5 titles will be that are going?
Does anyone even play Hexic anymore?
May 22nd, 2008 at 5:25 pm
I don’t know why I always forget logging in before commenting.
May 22nd, 2008 at 5:41 pm
@Tyrone, no way i can forget about the peeps down in Venezuela! i’ll be sure to give a super shout to you guys on the next show!!
May 22nd, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Wow why not just discount the games so they can still earn money off of them.
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:52 pm
we will see. and i think they should have like a 1 day vote on the games they are taking off with the community
May 23rd, 2008 at 12:26 am
Seems to me that they are just “delisting” games so future buyers don’t buy crap. For those of us that DID buy the games though, I’m sure the option would still be to redownload it based on our download history. New buyers would not be able to get the game.
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
hopefully some further confirmation comes soon about it all.
May 26th, 2008 at 11:44 am
I like that we can now re-claim our DLC and XBLA games with the new DRM tool. Finally, our voices were heard!