Bleszinski predicts publisher closures, more DLC thanks to Xbox One policy changes

Fire from the sky and demons in your closet; Microsoft's reversal of its Xbox One DRM policies is the first sign of gaming's imminent apocalypse, according to Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski.

"More studios WILL close and you'll see more PC and mobile games," he said when asked what will happen now that Microsoft's vision of a digital future has been at least temporarily scuppered.

His next comment seemed to imply that the continued existence of used games takes a huge bite out of profits.

"I have seen the number of unique gamer tags vs actual sales numbers and it ain't pretty," he said, although he cannot reveal figures due to NDAs.

"I want developers who worked their asses off to see money on every copy of their game that is sold instead of Gamestop. F**k me, right?"

Unable to recover all this supposed revenue lost to used games - which, by the way, assumes that all the people using these avenues to access games would just fork out a triple-A cover price if given no other choice - Bleszinski predicted consequences for the industry.

"Brace yourselves. More tacked on multiplayer and DLC are coming," he said. "You're also about to see available microtransactions skyrocket. HATS FOR EVERYONE.

"You're going to see digital versions of your favorite games with added "features" and content to lure you to digital over disc based. 'Do whatever it takes to keep that disc in that tray' is the mantra of developers in a disc based world."

Bleszinski was a staunch defender of Microsoft's licensing policies; he noted that "digital distribution brought us Blood Dragon and Minecraft on console", and when asked who would win this console generation, nominated Valve.

The outspoken developer was unwilling to credit gamers with the change in Microsoft's policies, either. Bleszinski said that Microsoft couldn't "do well in that space" if its core fanbase was unhappy.

"Especially when users have a choice. The nature of capitalism encourages competition and Sony played into that," he said.

He then retweeted a comment disparaging the efforts of hashtag campaigners in the context of ongoing violence in Turkey.

"Sony forced Microsoft's hand, not the internet whining," he added.

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