Over the weekend, well known indie developer for Fez, Phil Fish, announced his unexpected cancellation of Fez 2 and his departure from the game industry.
Phil Fish announced Fez 2 during the week of E3 at the Horizon event for indie game developers. The Xbox Live Arcade release reached 100,000 downloads before launching on Steam platforms almost a year later.
After refusing to comment on the first rumored Xbox One's new indie self-publishing plan reported by Game Informer, many readers and players thought that Fish cancelled his game after some unfavourable comments.
After posting on the official Polytron Corporation website, Fish made clear that the cancellation came from a number of things accumulating over time, not just a single event. Fish said, "this is isn’t the result of any one thing, but the end of a long, bloody campaign. You win." You can read the full, but short, post on the website.
At first many thought the cancelation came as joke, but Phil Fish later confirmed to Joystiq the validity of the cancellation.
Alongside the cancellation, Fish also Tweeted that he will no longer work in the video game industry. He gained a lot of popularity from his highly anticipated puzzle platformer and his role in the documentary, Indie Game: The Movie.
Since the announcement, Phil Fish restricted his Twitter account to followers only and did not post any more information to further explain the cancellation.