I'm really curious about what caused this. Famously he rather seemed to despise the PC as a gaming platform. What changed his mind? Why did he think so in the first place anyways? It's not like he's some 13 year CoD kiddy who thinks PCs are for nerds. He must have worked with a PC, and i guess he likes games, so i don't really understand that to begin with.

Are there any interviews on this subject? Does anyone have any deeper insights in this?

According to what I read on Reddit a couple weeks ago, Mr. Fish has directly stated that the PC port is a blatant, unapologetic cash grab. The entirety of the Internet has raked him over the coals accordingly.

At least he's honest about it. He seems to be a bit of a twat, and mostly full of himself, but i think people give him to much shit about it. Fez seems to be a good game, and cashing in on it seems like something i would want to do too.

Well, what he's doing is still mild compared to what publishers do. Seen EA's latest DLC for the new SimCity? 3 buildings for 10Eur. Yeah, it still kind of sucks, but instead of beating down on an (idiotic) indie people should rather focus on evil empires like Ubi and EA. We'll i'll buy it when it's on sale.

I could not care less what Phil Fish is like as a person (though I really think he is actually an ok guy), all I know is that I've been dying to get this game ever since I saw Indie Movie. I don't own a 360, so I was hoping for either a PS3 or PC port. Looks like that day is upon us now. Can't wait!

Yea a friend tried to "educate" me and try to get me to not buy Fez

He gets more shit thrown at him then he deserves IMO he is the gaming Pinata these days since we got bored of old Bobby.

I Kindly reminded my friend im a 29 year old man I can make a decision to by a product using my own mind and not popular opinion

He seemed fine to me in that "indie game, the movie".

I'd actually think he'd PREFER PC (or at least Playstation) after how he can't even get Fez on Xbox patched.

Anyway, I am SUPER excited about Fez coming! It sounded AWEEEEESOME from the Giant Bombcast last year, but I'm not putting up with Microsoft's activation.

So...now I can actually buy it, incredibly I'll actually pay a bit less for it from pre-ordering, and maybe it'll even get patched!

What is going to be funny is when the sales for Fez for the year will be done in a month at least when it hits on May 1st on PC (Steam/gog.com). Maybe then he will understand business.

Glad to see it's coming to PC, because despite his statements to the contrary, the PC does deserve good indie games.

I'm not planning to buy it, though, unless it's part of a $5 indie bundle or something.

I've got piles of other great PC games to keep me busy for a long time, so I can afford to be an idealist.

I've been excited for this for a long time.

One of the things that has to be realised was that when FEZ was first signed with XBLA, it was the only place for indie games. FEZ was in development for over half a decade, the scene can change a lot in the time a contract cannot.

Ultimately, Fish was failed heavily by Microsoft. There was a severe bug with one of the patches which was a very easy fix (and due to the nature was not picked up by internal testing,) which would have cost him ~$40k to fix due to Microsoft's incredibly limiting patch verification process. For a two man indie job, this was pretty much out of the question. If I recall correctly, you get one free patch with the contract (Which also costs - just to get on the system), then you have to pay.

In the time he was developing, steam started rising. The Humble Bundle came around, and the entire landscape for indies changed. Steam was offering no contracts, free to get on the store following approval, and an unlimited, free, and instant patching service. Unfortunately, he was tied in to MS for a year.

Since he made those comments, and since he first signed FEZ, the landscape has changed dramatically. He's being honest about porting FEZ purely for the money, but it's his baby. Anyone in their right mind would want it on steam. I know for a fact that he has talked a lot to team meat, and they are the definition of a huge steam game that petered out hard on XBLA. They sold an order of magnitude more on steam in comparison to XBLA, and constantly sing it's praises.

This is an interesting read from Giant Bomb;
http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/the-rabbit-hole-that-is-life-after-fez/1100-4275/

And this is the interview I watched that has a lot of the information and his perspective on things after the release of the game;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LG1fOOUSOw
EDIT:
In the above video, the part about working with Microsoft is at 10:40
The part about the patch is at 13:10
The part about Steam is at 15:25
The part about porting is at 22:00, More specifically 22:47. This is what I meant - He's passionate about his baby and he wants people to play it.

BOUGHT!!

Right, but it simultaneously makes him a hypocrite for poo-pooing the idea of a PC port until recently. That, combined with a lack of contrition regarding the change of heart, has rightfully soured a lot of people.

People who have looked into the situation seem to be split pretty evenly. My take on it is that since money from my purchase goes to the author and not somehow to the game itself, buying the game shows support of the author's decisions and reasonings at least as much as it shows support for the game itself. Therefore, I would see a purchase by myself as support of Mr. Fish's hypocrisy and/or disparaging attitude toward PC gamers at least as much as it would be support for the game itself, and I'd rather not make that statement with my money.

C'mon, why does your purchase on such a small game have to be so ideological? I mean, honestly he's just some guy who made a stupid comment and an awesome game. Are you going to deprive yourself of the experience? There are tons of known and unknown a holes and big egos behind most games, so really, why care so much?

Because I can.

I already have such a massive pile of games built up that I will probably never even install all of them, let alone play them, let alone finish them. Therefore, the one thing I can most afford to do is be picky about how I spend my play time and money.

According to Phil, playing on the PC would only be a second-rate experience anyways.

You do have to remember Renaud (The dev) and Rich (Disasterpeace) Who are both fully deserving of support. They're great guys.
My opinion however is that if you call everyone a hypocrite for a change of mind or a change of heart, then every single person is one. The whole landscape was different 5 years ago. Time and people change.

Phil has made comments against PC gamers in the past. The one that is still quoted is over 5 years old. I can't help but think that a lot of this now is sarcasm and flamebating moreso than his actual opinions. Look at the thread on steam - It gives me the impression that he's sitting back and watching the fireworks after lighting the fuse more than having a distinct opinion on the whole thing. The reply on his AMA about doing it purely for profit? That to me sounds like he was giving the answer the community wanted to hear, rather than giving the true answer. If he had said anything else, what would the backlash have been?

If you watch that talk, it shows a lot about how passionate he is about his game, and that kind of passion is something that is seriously needed in this industry.


You can still hate the artist while appreciating the art.