Microsoft supports Polytron's 'Fez' patch stance
Published Jul 21 2012, 09:59 BST | By Mark Langshaw
Microsoft has offered it backing to Fez studio Polytron over its decision to not release a new patch to fix the game's save corruption glitch.The glitch, caused by a bug-fixing update issued last month, would have cost the developers a significant sum to correct in a move they did not see as economically viable.
"Polytron and their investor, Trapdoor, made the decision not to work on an additional title update for Fez," said Microsoft in a statement issued to Giant Bomb.
"Microsoft Studios chose to support this decision based on the belief that Polytron/Trapdoor were in the best position to determine what the acceptable quality level is for their game.
"While we do not disclose the cost of Title Updates, we did offer to work with Trapdoor to make sure that wasn't a blocking issue. We remain huge fans of Fez."
Polytron originally pulled the patch from Xbox Live when it was discovered to corrupt save files for the game, but it will soon be made available again and users will be prompted to update the next time they play.
The studio insists that the error has mainly affected users who are near the end of the game, and does not occur when a new campaign is started up.
> Read Digital Spy's review of 'Fez'
Watch the Fez launch trailer below:
What I mean is that it isn't commercially viable because they just don't want to spend the money as opposed to it not being commercially viable because Microsoft are being bastards, which is usually the case. This time it's Polytron who don't care, but are passing the blame onto Microsoft.
And yea number two, Polytron made a patch that broke the game and as per contract was put on XBLA for free, but they have an exclusivity contract with Mircosoft as well. While Polytron says 1% it was pulled for being "fairly widespread", which doesn't sound like 1% especially when Polytron said it only affects people who have nearly completed the game. Microsoft have a certification process, but Polytron should have done the quality assurance on the patch before hand because Microsoft's process is more about whether it contains any nefarious coding that could compromise the system than checking for bugs.
To quote Phil Fish "We're not going to patch the patch.
Why not? Because Microsoft would charge us tens of thousands of dollars to re-certify the game."
So really, Polytron broke their game leaving their players with corrupt save files and don't want to pay to fix, so tough luck to whoever bought it. Phil Fish can roll around in whatever is left of the million dollars he's made from Fez, screw the rest of you.
July 21st 2012 at 10:46pm
Some times the worst people in the development of a video game are the creators themselves. polytron has made over $1,000,000 from Fez and they made a patch that has corrupted the saves of about 1000 of it's players. By not paying to fix the game they broke themselves they have potentially lost the support of those 1000 people, anyone connected via word of mouth, future sales and and sales from new projects. They have also got some negative press over this too.
Microsoft on XBLA allow for one free patch when a game is released with a cost of over $10,000 for additional. This is to allow developers to fix any bugs after launch, but to also keep patches low so players don't have to keep downloading and so the quality is high. While this means content patches are rare, such as in Dungeon Defenders, it's their terms of use and Polytron signed up for it.
Polytron might be an indie developer, but they made a lot of money and are now turning their nose up at the players who supported them. Polytron made a broken patch and didn't do enough testing before releasing it.
If it's not commercially viable to patch the game, then say so. It's poor form to hide behind terms and services you signed up for when you have made more than enough money from sales to pay for a new patch.
July 21st 2012 at 7:12pm
Pretty sure he already DID say that it wasn't commercially viable, he said it affects around 1% of the users and would cost him $40,000 to release a patch.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/the-rabbit-hole-that-is-life-after-fez/4275/
Two, a number of issues post-release prompted Polytron to work on a patch. Releasing a patch on XBLA costs $40,000, according to Fish (Double Fine?s Tim Schafer has separately mentioned this figure). Microsoft gave Polytron a pass on the first patch, but when the patch was approved by Microsoft certification, released to the masses and caused a small number of users to lose their saved progress, Microsoft pulled the patch.
A follow-up patch will now cost Polytron $40,000. That patch is not yet released.
July 21st 2012 at 8:04pm