All new Xbox Live Arcade releases will have the option to carry up to 400 Gamerscore points and 30 Achievements, Major Nelson has revealed. This new scoring system will be optional when initially introduced, but will become mandatory beginning in June of this year. The official announcement comes after rumors of it spread across the internet yesterday and Microsoft declining to comment on the change earlier today.

XBLA games currently allow for a total Gamerscore of 200 points spread over 20 achievements, with DLC permitting those numbers to see increases to 250 and 25, respectively. Although Major Nelson has thus far chosen not to issue a statement pertaining to XBLA DLC Gamerscores, website Xbox 360 Achievements claims an industry source has leaked the hardware manufacturer’s plans for downloadable content Achievements.

If their inside man is to be believed, then gamers can look forward to some XBLA games having up to 800 points divided among 62 Achievements when enough DLC is released. Microsoft will purportedly limit the increases to 100 points and eight additional Achievements each quarter, with it capping out at four DLC packs. The DLC claims cannot be independently verified at this time, but Achievement lovers will undoubtedly point to the site’s accurate prediction the new base system yesterday as evidence that its tipster is truly in the know.

We’ve reached out to some of the Gamerscore community for comment, but what do you all think about this change? Let us know in the comments.

Sources: Major Nelson and Xbox 360 Achievements