No plans to sell new releases on Xbox Live

Microsoft has stated that new release titles will not be sold on its upcoming Xbox 360 games on demand service – for now.

“Right now the plan is to have classic titles,” Xbox Live and services boss John Schappert told Eurogamer.

“We're talking about 30 titles at launch – I think we mentioned BioShock, Mass Effect, Sonic and Civilization Revolution.

“Some of these titles are great titles, but retail shelf space is at a premium, and not everything manages to stay at retail for as long as consumers would still like to buy it.

“We generally think there's a lot of legs left on the 360 – we think we're only halfway through our cycle – so we want to pick up some of these older, great games you can't buy at retail.”

Sony has toyed with full-game downloads for new-release PS3 games, with third party publisher such as Ubisoft currently offering a range of games for download over PSN – more often than not at prices far higher than can be found in the shops.