XBLA 50MB limit scrapped?

360 Rumour | Quite possibly.

The size limit for Xbox Live Arcade titles used to be 50MB, but that could be about to change, according to 1UP, with the North American site reporting that the maximum size for the downloadable games on the service has increased from 50MB to 250MB.

Furthermore, if would-be Live Arcade publishers seek Microsoft's approval, then the size can be expanded to 450MB. It was recently revealed that Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was exceeding the limit, and not even a demo of the game will fit on the 64MB memory card which is currently available for the Xbox 360. If this is true then those who don't have a hard-drive with their console will no longer be able to play all Xbox Live Arcade titles.

When 1UP asked for a comment from Microsoft, the firm responded by saying, "We do not comment on rumour and speculation, and so we can not confirm that rumour. Aside from the exception we granted for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, we have not announced any plans to alter the file size standard for Xbox Live Arcade games. However, adjusting the size limit is certainly an option in the future, and as always, we are listening to feedback both from gamers and developers on what will provide the best user experience. Whatever choice we make, we will hold a position that provides for the best possible Xbox Live Arcade gameplay experience."

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7 Comments

deckard3

5 years ago

I wonder how many people with just the core system & a memory card actually download XBLA games ?

BovineDeath

5 years ago

I seem to remember hearing that a 256MB memory card was going to come out around the time of the wireless steering wheel and wireless headset...
Maybe it's not that far off now.

Ellegarden

5 years ago

It was stupid limit to begin, I get they were getting guys with cards. I think they should expand the size, so developers dont feel limited in memory. Instead either make HDD cheaper or give bigger memory cards.

seany

5 years ago

who cares? 50mb is nothing compared to all the illegal torrents being downloaded sending rental dvd companies broke. Bring on IPTV.

ppjim3

5 years ago

The limit is ridiculous and was only imposed (or so it would seem) as a selling point in the first place- "Get the core, but still full access!" where as now it's a negative (when compared to PS3s large, or non-existing, limit) so they can use it to sell consoles (again) by dropping the limit and releasing a few killer games (which are large) like Symphony of the Night. There is no game from a previous generation that deserves a whole change of company plan than this (SoTN) either so thank the powers that be that Microsoft realized the greatness they have been offered- It'll sell hard drives I can guarantee.

Jim Dash

5 years ago

Plus the possibilities for other great titles is elevated majorly. We can expect so much more to come from XBLA now.

So many developers'companies will pick up on this and realise that they can now bring some of their classic titles to the Arcade, when obviously before it may have been out of the question.

wobbler

5 years ago

wobbler wrote

Luke wrote

Can we expect to see more games breaking the cap shortly then? It seems likely.

I hope so, The demos are quite a deal bigger than 50 MB and people still download them. If the restriction was lifted to something like 200MB (or some other arbitrary number) we might see some better quality XBLA games (IMO).

Well, I just couldn't be bothered typing it again.

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