“I think that we are not, I would say…happy with the ability to find and discover content as easily as we’d like for consumers to be able to do that,” said Aaron Greenberg, Microsoft’s product management director for Xbox 360 and XBL, to MTV Multiplayer last week.

That problem gets worse every week; forcing Microsoft to start introducing guidelines to remove underperforming, poorly reviewed XBL Arcade titles.


“I think a lot of that is we built Xbox Live Marketplace for a few hundred items and now we have 17,000 items,” said Greenberg. “We built a small store and we filled it with lots of lots of stuff. We’re feeling some of these growing pains and [the new policy] is one of those tradeoffs we’ve had to make.”

Microsoft had traditionally updated the XBL interface twice a year with annual spring and fall updates. Last fall’s upgrade included store re-design still featured. But Greenberg seems to admit that wasn’t enough.

Earlier this year, Microsoft was searching for a program manager to become “part of the Xbox LIVE team that’s responsible for creating a completely new way for mainstream audiences to enjoy the Xbox and LIVE.” Speculation pointed to Microsoft designing a revamped interface for XBL.

While Greenberg wouldn’t admit such a XBL revamp is in the works, he said there are changes coming to reconcile some of the interface issues.

“Longer term, we’re looking to make the ability to find content and organize the 17,000 pieces of content we have a lot better,” he said.