"No plans" to delist crap XBLA games

Microsoft may not delist crap games from Xbox Live Arcade after all, according to Live boss John Schappert, who has now said that the New Xbox Experience will eliminate the problems that step was designed to solve.

Back in May, Xbox Live general manager Marc Whitten said that Microsoft would be "delisting older underperforming titles in order to keep the service focused on a section of high quality games", and that the criteria would be based on age, Metacritic scores and how many people bought the games after downloading the demo.

This week, Schappert told IGN that Microsoft has "no immediate plans to act on delisting", but that it had been important to "set parameters by which we can delist", and that it wouldn't happen unless the amount of content becomes "cumbersome" again in a post-NXE world.

Good news for developers, then, who can breathe a sigh of relief - but gamers who fork out hundreds of Microsoft Points a month to keep up with the latest releases may wonder whether it's a good thing that the incentive to make something better than average has been taken away.

For more of Schappert's thoughts on other subjects - including Microsoft's innovation record in gaming, and the Xbox 360's progress in Japan - check out our Tokyo Game Show interview with John Schappert. Would it be rude if we nicknamed him Cuddles? He's so huggable.