Polytron refusing to patch Fez – Video Games Update
Indie game developer Polytron is re-releasing a broken patch for the Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) game Fez because it does not have the funds required for the re-certification of a new patch.
Fez is a puzzle platformer indie title currently available only on XBLA and was released April 13, 2012. Polytron were the developers and the game was published by Microsoft. There was a lot of hype for Fez pre-release and the game did not disappoint fans
and critics. It got positive reviews overall and averages at 89 percent on Metacritic.
Fez however was not polished and many gamers were facing bugs and issues which they hoped would be fixed by the developer through a patch. Polytron released the first patch of the game which fixed the launch issues for the majority of the gamers but some
one percent of players were experiencing save game corruption after updating to the latest patch.
The patch was rolled back but now Polytron has announced that it will be re-releasing that same patch because it fixed the game for the majority of the players and the one percent will have to lose their game saves and start a new game if they want the bugs
and issues to be fixed.
Polytron blamed Microsoft’s XBLA policies for its inability to bring out another fix as developers have to pay ‘tens of thousands of dollars’ in order to re-certify their game and the developers has stated that it simply cannot afford that.
"It wasn’t an easy decision, but in the end, paying such a large sum of money to jump through so many hoops just doesn’t make any sense. We already owe Microsoft a LOT of money for the privilege of being on their platform. People often mistakenly believe
that we got paid by Microsoft for being exclusive to their platform. Nothing could be further from the truth. WE pay THEM," stated Polytron explaining their timed exclusive deal with Microsoft.
Many gamers are furious after this news and are blaming Polytron for rushing a buggy game on to XBLA as it seems it was not testing the first free patch before releasing it. Polytron was quick to mention that their timed exclusivity deal with Microsoft would
end in a few months so the game might also end up on Steam and Playstation Network.
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