In an interview with next-gen.biz, Xbox Live general manager Marc Whitten lays out some new policies, amendments and projects being undertaken to revitalise the digital distribution service which once led the way, but has started to show cracks.

Previously, Microsoft have emphasised Xbox Live Arcade's core purpose as being to provide smaller pick-up-&-play type games, with the presence and popularity of games which only vaguely fit that description seeming like almost an embarrassment to them.

This is changing, apparently. Whitten explains, "While the service has had a lot of success and now boasts over 130 titles, we think it is time to continue our focus on quality over quantity. This means that we need to allow developers more time and more space to make even bigger and better games."

There was originally a size limit of just 50mb, which rose early last year to 150mb, and from now reaches 350mb with the upcoming Street Fighter II HD remake. The higher 1600MSP (~£13.50) price point has also been introduced, with Penny Arcade Adventures being the first to use it.

A more surprising move is a new policy to remove older, poorly reviewed and under performing games to make sifting through the catalogue easier and to stimulate quality. "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.[That's conversion from trial version to full version, i.e. sales - Raff] This way titles are not just considered if they are not selling well or not getting good reviews, but actually a combination of both. We will also give a three-month notice before delisting any title."

In the interview it is also announced that a new first-party studio is being set up to work exclusively on downloadable games. Whitten also confirms that although there will be no major dashboard update this spring, there will be a tool released next month that will solve the DRM problems experienced by those who change machine - something which has been demanded for a long time.