Just as quickly as our hopes were raised, they are dashed.
Fez II, the sequel to the 2012 hit, Fez, which was announced just last month, has been canceled. Creator Phil Fish posted a confusing message on the official Polytron website, which alluded to a recent internet-battle between himself and Marcus “AnnoyedGamer” Beer who is a journalist for GameTrailers. “Fez II is cancelled,” the announcement said. “I am done. I take the money and I run. This is as much as I can stomach. This isn’t the result of any one thing, but the end of a long, bloody campaign. You win.”
Fish hasn’t had the greatest history in the industry. Fez was once unable to get patched because of Microsoft’s ludicrous patching fees, and the game’s original development was plagued with licensing issues and setbacks. Before this announcement, Fish was in the middle of a heated Twitter argument with Marcus Beer who harshly criticized Fish in a recent broadcast. At the end of the exchange, Fish announced that he would be leaving the world of game development forever before locking his Twitter account.
Fez was a critically acclaimed game and one of the Xbox Marketplaces best selling titles. It sold over 100,000 copies in the last steam sale, and continues to be picked up on Steam and XBLA today. The loss of its sequel and it’s incredibly creative developer from our industry is a heavy loss. Game development is a much harsher world than we once thought.
However, something tells me that Phil Fish can’t stay away from gaming.
Source: Polytron