After yesterday's events, we are glad to share news that Polytron has confirmed plans to release Fez to other platforms as originally planned.
Hey everybody, just a quick note to say POLYTRON isn't going anywhere. There is still much porting to do!
— Polytron (@Polytron) July 29, 2013
Originally announced in 2007, Fez the game has itself had a troubled production. The game and its creator, Phil Fish, were thrust into the limelight when they were featured in "Indie Game: The Movie", but development stalled as Fish faced business and personal issues. His business partner left Polytron and threatened to sue. It would take 2011 for him to reveal a near finished build in PAX and April 2012 before it finally released in Xbox Live Arcade. Fez is a critical and commercial success, reaching 200,000 downloads since April 2013.
Talk of Fez being ported to other platforms came up last year, in a post on Polytron's official website. No particular platforms were named then, although Fish later discussed his interest in porting to PSN and Windows, Mac and Linux, as well as ruling out the possibility of a 3DS port. Fez did get its first port to Windows, available on Steam, GOG.com, and the Humble Store.
Early this month, Ethan Lee, who previously ported Super Hexagon and many others to Linux and Mac, revealed he was doing the same for Fez.
@faemir I am now working on FEZ for Linux.
— Ethan Lee (@flibitijibibo) July 7, 2013
This may be bittersweet news for some, but it's good to know Fez is staying true to his promises. At the very least we can safely assume Linux and Mac owners will get to play the game as well. I would go out on a limb and make a comparison here to Brian Provinciano's belated Wii release of Retro City Rampage. It may be a little too late for many gamers to care, and was not expected to sell very well, but Provinciano went ahead with it and added content to boot, because he wanted to keep his promise. For Polytron, and I dare say for Phil Fish, he thinks the same.