Xbox and Xbox Live product manager Aaron Greenberg admitted in a recent interview that Microsoft should have explained XBLA's delisting process a little better.
Greenberg told MTV Multiplayer's Patrick Klepek:
"The reality is we're not removing any games from the service, if you will. They'll always be there for purchase. Think about a book on Amazon. It's not always going to be featured on the front page of the store."
You can re-download titles you once owned, if you delete them, or you can buy them if a friend recommends them to you, Greenberg clarified, even if you can no longer purchase them via storefront browsing.
Still, is the state of XBLA like an episode of "Survivor"? Greenberg told Multiplayer:
<blockquote"We're sort of cleaning our shelves as a retailer," he explained. "Even though we are in this digital age, the pros of cleaning the shelves outweighed the cons of expanding the shelf. "
He later added:
"I think if we would have just taken some of these very low performing games randomly off the service, nobody would have said much about it," he laughed. "But now we've created this ‘Xbox Live Arcade Death Watch,' about who will make the cut. It's almost like a reality show about who's going to get voted off the island."
Of course, if Microsoft had started quietly nicking games off of the service without letting people know, someone surely would have caught on, and that wouldn't have gone over well either.
What's your pick for the title that should get culled first?
Microsoft Admits Negative Reaction To XBL Arcade Delisting Policies Was Their Fault [MTV Multiplayer]