Microsoft explains Watchmen file-size

By Tom Bramwell Published 10 March, 2009

Bent the rules for "superior gameplay".

Microsoft has said that the Watchmen game's massive 1.2GB file size was permitted because the company makes exceptions for "superior gameplay" judged case by case.

Xbox Live Arcade games used to be restricted to 50MB, but the company has permitted breaches before, most notably with Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Bionic Commando Rearmed, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Portal: Still Alive.

"We have set Xbox Live Arcade game file limits as a general guideline. An important part [of] Xbox Live Arcade is easy access, and keeping file size down is a vital part of that," Microsoft explained to Ars Technica.

"Equally important is offering titles with superior gameplay. We weigh both considerations on a case-by-case basis, and will make exceptions when it makes sense to ensure the best customer experience."

Some may scoff at the idea that last week's Watchmen game boasts "superior gameplay" - us very much included - but the breach is hardly surprising given XBLA's competition with PlayStation Network, for which Sony doesn't impose the same size restrictions.

In any case, it's hardly the first time Microsoft has bent the rules, and not just on the subject of XBLA file sizes. Back in the day we were told that boxed Xbox 360 games were permitted to offer 1000 gamerpoints and add 250 in subsequent downloadable content. Halo 3 has since gone on to offer 1750 total.

The last guidance to developers Eurogamer has seen - dated mid 2007 - said that boxed games could offer up to 50 Achievements for 1000 gamerscore, and then up to 10 additional Achievements for 250 gamerscore post-release. XBLA titles were allowed to offer 250 gamerscore off 10 Achievements, and then another 50 gamerscore from a subsequent three.

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About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (49) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • DFawkes #1 3 years ago

    I wouldn't say superior, but it does feel like a normal retail release. Can't fault it's presentation at least, it is a nice looking game that they could've tried to charge full price for on disc, and it'd have sold I bet.

  • Beano #2 3 years ago

    "superior gameplay" !?!?

    LOL.. best joke this week.

  • Xerx3s #3 3 years ago

    I think that by 'superior' they mean 'will sell a shitload because people recognise the name'.

  • seasidebaz #4 3 years ago

    XBLA titles were allowed to offer 250 gamerscore off 10 Achievements

    I thought it was 200 points, then an extra 50 off of DLC?

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #5 3 years ago

    Its obviously more to do with not letting sony get an exclusive than anything to do with superior gameplay.

  • Grom #6 3 years ago

    Those money hats which Warner Brothers send out must be a superior fit.

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #7 3 years ago

    @ seaside

    Yeah, pretty sure it's 200 + 50 additional.
    Edited by 1 at 10/03/09 @ 09:39

  • asphaltcowboy #8 3 years ago

    Those money hats which Warner Brothers send out must be a superior fit.

    lol! well played :D

  • Tiger_Walts #9 3 years ago

    "Superior Gameplay" = Cash under the table.

  • penhalion #10 3 years ago

    ............Naw I still don't believe they used the words superior gameplay in conjunction with a movie tie-in game.

  • DFawkes #11 3 years ago

    Don't get me wrong, I think Watchmen is alright, but not "superior" to the likes of Streets of Rage 2, Golden Axe or Castle Crashers. All of which I think you can have for the same prices (assuming Crashers is 800, I know the others 2 are 400 each).
    Edited by 1 at 10/03/09 @ 09:55

  • kangarootoo #12 3 years ago

    Watchmen game aside, the file size limit is outdated and its good that MS are making exceptions.

    The limit was there to cater for core system users with memory cards, but really anybody with a 360 and no HDD is impeding their own full enjoyment of the system, and you can buy 20gb HDDs for less than a wireless headset these days.

    MS shouldn't hamstring the ability of XBLM to deliver a variety of content just because they started off with a (frankly odd) variety of base systems.

  • Toothball #13 3 years ago

    1.2 Gig? That's quite surprising actually. It'd be nice if that meant that more games would be coming out at a slightly bigger size than normal. but it seems likely it'll be saved for future incidents of this sort.

    @seasidebaz:

    Arcade games always have twelve achievements rather than ten as well. Also how did Halo 3 manage to get an extra 500 points anyway?

  • ryohazuki1983 #14 3 years ago

    @Toothball

    Because Halo is a MS game. I remember when I worked in the compliance team for certification, Halo/fable failed some of Microsofts TCRs (granted they were minor, like using two utility regions etc) but it didn't matter as it was MS afterall! They can do what they like. Only EA got away with a load of shit as well!

  • RedSparrows #15 3 years ago

    cos it's a poster-boy.

  • el_pollo_diablo #16 3 years ago

    I think that by 'superior' they mean 'PSN has it, so we'd better have it too'

  • Carlo #17 3 years ago

    Might as well not have the rules then!

    /freeforall

  • dudefella #18 3 years ago

    Wut? XBLA is 200 points over 12 achievements, not 250 over 10.

  • Pirotic #19 3 years ago

    The limit is 250mb now, they raised it from 50mb some time ago.

  • Aretak #20 3 years ago

    They should just scrap the limit at this point. Anybody who doesn't have at least a 20GB HDD by now should be shunned.
    Edited by 1 at 10/03/09 @ 10:24

  • Toothball #21 3 years ago

    @ryohazuki1983:

    Makes sense I guess. It seems to be all about the exceptions anyway.

  • miiiguel #22 3 years ago

    XBLA - max 12 Achievements 200G + DLC 50G
    Retail - max 50 Achievements 1000G + DLC 250G, (exception: exclusive key DLC +750)

    edit: other rules
    min Achievements: 5
    max points for an Achievement: 500G
    minimum points for an Achievement: 0G


    Well, that was written in an editorial in x360a.
    Edited by 1 at 10/03/09 @ 10:49

  • Rash' #23 3 years ago

    the credentials required for a game to exceed XBLA size limited is revealed...

  • Ryze #24 3 years ago

    So... Burnout Paradise on XBLA anytime soon?

    No? Oh well.

  • lmephisto #25 3 years ago

    superior failure....

  • ryohazuki1983 #26 3 years ago

    Wasn't too fussed on the game, didn't even finish the demo, probably because the asking price was so high; At 800pts I might of got it, but playing through I just thought its not worth the £££.

    Edit:

    @designerheadache

    Yep, Major Nelson just released the top selling arcade games for last week and watchmen is at #1.
    Edited by 2 at 10/03/09 @ 11:16

  • Xerx3s #27 3 years ago

    "The limit is 250mb now, they raised it from 50mb some time ago. "

    I thought that they reraised it to 300. :/

  • penhalion #28 3 years ago

    I'll see your 300 and raise you a gig?!?!?

  • kestral #29 3 years ago

    They're just testing the waters with this I'm sure. By raising the limit slowly they're not causing too much resistance. Slowly we're moving to download only (50 -> 250 -> 300 -> 1.2GB -> 4.7GB)

  • menage #30 3 years ago

    My vote already goes for one of the worst games of the year. Horrible tearing, lame moves (what the hell makes starting of with only a simple punch and kick fun? Haven't these guys played GoW to see you don't need to strip chara's to keep interesting), the same fucking thing the whole time in boring environments, making a stupid beat em up out of it, etc.

    Superior my ass.

  • PearOfAnguish #31 3 years ago

    Perhaps this superior gameplay will be added via DLC.

  • Petulant_Radish #32 3 years ago

    I'm a little teapot.

  • Matfink #33 3 years ago

    "640K ought to be enough for anybody."

  • Vin #34 3 years ago

    An excuse churned out in the lunch hour.

  • Darren #35 3 years ago

    I think Watchmen's 1.2 GB file size is because of the detailed graphics and audio myself. I don't think its large size has much to do with the gameplay as you could probably have the same game running in 150 MB with inferior production values.

    Besides, the game is downright rubbish IMO. If Microsoft think that game has superior gameplay then I think they need to seriously think hard about leaving the industry altogether. Seriously! ;)

  • MaxiSleep #36 3 years ago

    Bent the definition of "superior gameplay"

    Fixed

  • rudedudejude #37 3 years ago

    'we've done it because it's a movie license and the sheep will buy shitloads of it, making us more money'

  • Darren #38 3 years ago

    @Adam_T

    +1

    If you want conclusive proof that this is working despite the less than amazing reviews the game has been getting then look no further than Major Nelson's blog site where there's a chart showing Watchmen as the top selling XBLA title at the moment. ;)

  • Widge #39 3 years ago

    How big are the 360 demos? For stuff like Hawx and whatever? Do they have to cram them into 250/300mb? Or is that just for 'to buy' games off xbl?

  • Kyle #40 3 years ago

    Everyone knows it's not a case of superior gameplay but rather that it was a sure thing in regards to making a fuck ton of money. Honestly, I don't know why they bother with such strict size limitations. They clearly will bend the rules if they have to so why have them at all anymore.

  • Darren #41 3 years ago

    @Widge - Demos of retail games have no apparent size restriction but demos of Xbox LIVE Arcade games do have file size restrictions - I think it's 350 MB now - so that Arcade/Core 360 owners can still play the games without owning the hard drive.

  • michaelius #42 3 years ago

    Good luck to MS fanboys who brag about $200 price point trying to play it on x360 arcade :)

  • menage #43 3 years ago

    Go away with your irrelevant remarks. Hits ignore.

  • GiarcYekrub #44 3 years ago

    I want a big HD my 20Gb feel small and inadequate but 120GB still doesn't do it for me, when are MS gonna step up the sizes again?

  • miiiguel #45 3 years ago

    "I want a big HD my 20Gb feel small and inadequate but 120GB still doesn't do it for me, when are MS gonna step up the sizes again? "

    The Resi 5 limited edition one comes with a 160Gb hd, I think. It might be the new bigger size.
    Edited by 1 at 10/03/09 @ 18:41

  • Linkified #46 3 years ago

    I'm just going to say this the telltale games that are coming from the episodic wallace and grommit series and the sam and max seasons 1 and 2 plus the next season are likely to be between 500MB to 1Gb each.

    So I don't think its Microsoft getting money hats, more that a game such as ensuring a xbla game of say solitaire should be over 200MB for it. I think what they mean to say is effort. I mean if Bungie said they were developing an episodic game based on halo universe they wouldn't mind the size limit.

    ITS ALL ABOUT FREAKING PERSPECTIVE

  • man.the.king #47 3 years ago

    Well, as other folks here have noted, "superior gameplay" = "preventing game from being sony-exclusive".

    Anyway, this file-size limit is kinda outdated. It's been 3+ years now since the arrival of the 360, and they should just go with the understanding that proper enjoyment of the 360 will require a hard disk, and remove the file-size limit restriction.

  • photoboy #48 3 years ago

    Translation: As usual with movie tie-ins the developer agreed to have the game on the shelves in time for the film's release. So they were only barely able to scrape together something vaguely resembling a finished product by begging MS/Sony to let them release it on XBLA/PSN thereby giving them an extra month to work on the game. This saved them the time that would have been needed to press the discs, put them in cases and ship them to stores.

    At least this way there won't be a ton of unsold discs that need to be buried in a landfill somewhere. Apparently the new Star Trek game to tie in with JJ Abrams Star Wars ^H^H^H^H Trek movie will also be released on XBLA/PSN...

  • smelly #49 3 years ago

    I dont understand the download limit when game DEMOS can be bigger than that!

    I remember banjo kazooie demo was way over a gig! (Cant be arsed to check now though)