In a recent interview with Polygon, Phil Fish talks a little bit about Fez 2 and how the game will not make its way to the Xbox platform. When asked what platforms he's looking at for the sequel to the hit Fez, he replied simply with, "not Xbox."
I asked Fish about his thoughts on the Xbox One earlier this week, hours before Microsoft announced their sudden policy change.
"I hope it's a joke," he told me in the email interview. "I hope Microsoft is pulling a New Coke on us, announcing a shit console nobody wants, only to eventually announce the Xbox Classic and winning back everybody's hearts. Microsoft is making a console for itself. Not for gamers. Not for developers. Just for its own, greedy little Orwellian self. I'm not interested."
After the news hit of Microsoft's flip on their online and used game policies, I emailed Fish to see if he had changed his mind.
"Nah," he wrote, "I don't think it changes much for me. They didn't change anything about their anti-indie policies."
"I hope it's a joke," he told me in the email interview. "I hope Microsoft is pulling a New Coke on us, announcing a shit console nobody wants, only to eventually announce the Xbox Classic and winning back everybody's hearts. Microsoft is making a console for itself. Not for gamers. Not for developers. Just for its own, greedy little Orwellian self. I'm not interested."
After the news hit of Microsoft's flip on their online and used game policies, I emailed Fish to see if he had changed his mind.
"Nah," he wrote, "I don't think it changes much for me. They didn't change anything about their anti-indie policies."
So, what does Fish think about the PlayStation 4 and Sony's attitude towards Indie developers? It is, understandably, quite a bit more positive than his thoughts on Microsoft and the Xbox One.
"PS4 seems to be doing everything right," he wrote, when asked about the console. "It's too early to tell how everything is going to unfold but their heart definitely seems to be in the right place. Which is a weird thing to say when talking about giant monolithic corporation, but there's a handful of people working at Sony today who are really trying to do some good. And whether or not I would develop for it comes down to how the platform holder treats me. With Microsoft they've made it painfully clear they don't want my ilk on their platform. I can't even self-publish there. Whereas on PS4, I can. It's that simple. Microsoft won't let me develop for their console. But Sony will.
"One is having a big love-in orgy and the other is doing yet another fucking Minecraft port."
"One is having a big love-in orgy and the other is doing yet another fucking Minecraft port."
I really don't think anything he said needs to be clarified. He did a pretty good job at making his opinion known there.