Fez: "The Bus"
Posted: Monday July 23rd, 2012
by
Polytron, the indie developer of the super-popular retro-platformer Fez, recently released a patch for the game on XBox Live. It corrected a lot of the existing bugs but created a new one that corrupted the saved games of roughly 1% of the players. [more info] Polytron will not be repatching. Their reasoning seemed sound. They stated that Microsoft would charge them tens of thousands of dollars to recertify the game. So, since most people would not be affected, the patch would remain as is.
Initially I wrinkled my nose at Microsoft because, really? Tens of thousands of dollars for a patch? But then I started digging deeper. I found that Microsoft gives the first game update for free, but their driving goal for games introduced on the platform to be rock solid when they receive them. Failing to do this is the fault of the developer. They knew the policy coming into it. Then I found that Microsoft attempted to work with Polytron so that cost was not a "blocking issue" when it comes to title updates.
In straffing Microsoft, Polytron let it be known that IF they had gone with Steam, the re-patch wouldn't cost them anything. They also proclaimed that they owe Microsoft money because they have to pay Microsoft to be exclusive on the 360. Live and learn I guess. But I have some problems with these assertions. Yes, if they'd gone with Steam, they could have patched the game for free. But how many patches would they have gone through because they didn't properly test their updates? How much more frustration would they have subjected their player base to? And the quote "we owe Microsoft a LOT of money for the priviledge of being on their platform"? I'm going to side with Ben Kuchera on this one. I'm certain Polytron was paid for developing Fez and it's 100+K sales. So in the end, I wrinkled my nose at Polytron.
Stay tuned for future updates where I will somehow find a way to wrinkle my nose at Steam and then gamers for this whole mess.
[ discuss ]
Initially I wrinkled my nose at Microsoft because, really? Tens of thousands of dollars for a patch? But then I started digging deeper. I found that Microsoft gives the first game update for free, but their driving goal for games introduced on the platform to be rock solid when they receive them. Failing to do this is the fault of the developer. They knew the policy coming into it. Then I found that Microsoft attempted to work with Polytron so that cost was not a "blocking issue" when it comes to title updates.
In straffing Microsoft, Polytron let it be known that IF they had gone with Steam, the re-patch wouldn't cost them anything. They also proclaimed that they owe Microsoft money because they have to pay Microsoft to be exclusive on the 360. Live and learn I guess. But I have some problems with these assertions. Yes, if they'd gone with Steam, they could have patched the game for free. But how many patches would they have gone through because they didn't properly test their updates? How much more frustration would they have subjected their player base to? And the quote "we owe Microsoft a LOT of money for the priviledge of being on their platform"? I'm going to side with Ben Kuchera on this one. I'm certain Polytron was paid for developing Fez and it's 100+K sales. So in the end, I wrinkled my nose at Polytron.
Stay tuned for future updates where I will somehow find a way to wrinkle my nose at Steam and then gamers for this whole mess.
[ discuss ]
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