XBLA De-Listing: Not Quite Yet

[Crashtard]

Microsoft is taking steps away from the direction of removing under-performing games from Xbox Live Arcade, according to a new interview from the Tokyo Game Show. More from Shacknews: (http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/55230)

Microsoft VP John Schappert told IGN that "the information about XBLA de-listing had been taken out of context and that there was no plan to do any such thing." Microsoft had only put in place "parameters by which we can delist" games but is not moving forward with any plans to start removing games from the downloadable marketplace. Schappert's statements deny those of Xbox Live general manager Marc Whitten, who claimed in May that Microsoft would enact a new policy of delisting underperforming titles which had been out for six months, scored less than 65% on Metacritic, and had a conversion rate of less than 6%.

If the new dashboard will make de-listing games unnecessary why mention it in the first place?

[KidNicarus]

Sounds like back pedaling to me.

Does anyone care about this? Other than the developers of the games that might get
de-listed that is.

It sounded pretty reasonable to me. If the game didn't review well and isn't selling, it could be subject to de-listing.

[Johan]

The only reason to de-list in a digital marketplace is because your UI is screwed/overwhelmed by the number of items available. That's not a problem of the content; that's a problem with the UI.

If the fall update is going to fix that, then there is no reason to de-list. It's a stupid thing to have to do with a digital marketplace anyways; it's a tacit admission of a broken UI and/or a porous approval process for the listing of titles to begin with.

[Chimpbot]

The only reason to de-list in a digital marketplace is because your UI is screwed/overwhelmed by the number of items available. That's not a problem of the content; that's a problem with the UI.

If the fall update is going to fix that, then there is no reason to de-list. It's a stupid thing to have to do with a digital marketplace anyways; it's a tacit admission of a broken UI and/or a porous approval process for the listing of titles to begin with.

Exactly; you summed up perfectly why de-listing should never occur.

There's no shelf space to compete for and no need to clear out room for incoming inventory. It doesn't cost them a dime to keep things listed and its not like they'll be losing sales by keeping shoddier games up on the marketplace.

I guess part of it stems from the fact that I like knowing I can go and buy any Arcade title I happened to skip over at any point without fear of it potentially being de-listed because it wasn't purchased X number of times.

[Demo_Boy]

Low cost crappy games do cannibalize higher cost (and higher margin) better games.

It also makes it hard for users to find good material.

MS pretty much admitted previously that their approval process had been porous, and there's _still_ a lot of shovelware making it to the platform.

This cuts into buyer confidence. It becomes a lot of work to play through all the potentials to find the good stuff. Users just run out of time.

When it is obvious the game is shite shouldn't the platform holder make an effort to serve quality?

"This is a box of stale poo"
"Yeah, but we've got the space, so you know, some people might want it. $9.95"
"Who is going to want poo?"
"We have some vocal customers, they want to have _the option_ to buy poo. They never do though. It's all about choice. $9.95"

[Johan]

Low cost crappy games do cannibalize higher cost (and higher margin) better games.

It also makes it hard for users to find good material.

Crappy games don't cannibalize sales of better games. Let's see some hard data on that to prove it! If I'm eating at McDonald's, the Ruth's Chris steak house isn't losing sales.

Your second objection is a function of the UI. Games can be arranged according to any of a number of specifications/tags, including genres, sales rate, metacritic score, etc., etc.. A crappy UI buries games. A good one allows people to find them based upon THEIR preferences, just like a good store would do.