Following the Thursday reveal that Microsoft would delist underperforming game titles from their Xbox LIVE Arcade service -- ostensibly in an effort to filter their existing collection -- the company today clarified that retroactive purchases will be fully functional and can be redownloaded even after they are delisted.
On Microsoft's offical Gamerscore blog, Xbox community manager Chris Paladino explains:
Q: If I bought a game, and deleted it, can I redownload it even if it's been delisted?
A: Yes, you can. Go to Download History under the Account Management section of marketplace (far left blade).Q: Can I still play a game after it's been delisted? What about playing online? What about leaderboards?
A: Yes, yes, and yes. The game will function normally even after being delisted. You can continue to play the game single and multiplayer, as well as use the leaderboards as you normally would.
For owners of the small minority of titles likely to be affected by the new delisting guidelines (titles in jeopardy are those with a Metacritic rating of less than 65 and conversion rate of less than 6% after at least six months on the service) this is welcome news.
But on the flip side, if Microsoft isn't freeing up any bandwidth or (negligible) storage space by delisting these titles, then why bother limiting consumer choice? Is the company just trying to sweep their failures under the rug?
Though Paladino insists that the filtering process will "actually make it easier to find the games you really want," commenters on his blog post tend to disagree, and many feel this move is a cop-out. In their opinion, if it is currently difficult to find quality games, then the onus is on Microsoft to improve the XBLA interface rather than remove content. Others wonder why the content could not simply be discounted, rather than be removed.
Looking at the broader economic picture, Game|Life's Chris Kohler has an excellent opinion on this XBLA policy, and despite the fact that it's partly shameless plug for The Long Tail and slightly out-of-date given today's developments, we recommend checking it out.
Personally, I think the titles that are actually removed this way will only be those that I wouldn't have bothered with in the first place; but it still seems odd that in an era of digital distribution, Microsoft would choose to filter with a cleaver rather than a succession of sieves.
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