Cliff Bleszinski, the former Epic developer behind games such as Gears of War and Bulletstorm, has leapt to the defence of Fez creator, Phil Fish.
After a recent war of words on Twitter with a journalist, Fish announced that Fez II was cancelled and that he was stepping away from game development, citing the abuse he received on a regular basis as his reasons for stepping away from the industry.
Following on from these events, Cliffy B has written an open letter on his blog (you can read the full post here), asking Fish to consider changing his mind:
You don't owe a damned thing to any gaming journalist. We've seen the rise of many "Rush Limbaughs" in the gaming industry, people who do videos or podcasts digging a finger into an open wound that gets the gaming community going because, hits.
You DO owe a great product to your community, something I hope you'll resume doing some time in the near future. The industry needs people like you to speak with their hearts before their brains because I'm tired of hearing the PR approved appropriate response. I'm tired of games that feel like they've been developed by focus groups or clueless executives going "Hey that Call of Duty is big, we need one of those!"
Besides, at the end of the day, that cycle of community feedback and crafting that big fireball is entirely too addictive. Come back, Phil. We miss you already. Maybe I'll be right behind you, returning with Adamantium skin.