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Fez To Receive Its Long Awaited Patch On Xbox 360
Shorty after Fez released on Xbox Live in 2012, a patch was released to address certain issues in the game. That patch was recalled after it broke more than it fixed for a small number of gamers. After the recall, Polytron announced it would not be re-patching the game due to the high cost of delivering patches as required by Microsoft.
Recently, it was revealed that Microsoft was no longer charging for patches.
Now, as a result of Microsoft's new policies, Fez will finally receive its patch.
GOOD NEWS EVERYONE: we're going to patch FEZ on XBLA!
— PHIL FISH (@PHIL_FISH) July 4, 2013
it's going to take a few months, though. but we're doing it!
— PHIL FISH (@PHIL_FISH) July 4, 2013
Phil Fish, Fez's designer, Tweeted that the patch will be coming, but it's going to take a few months.
Our Take
It's unfortunate that Fez's initial patch caused problems in the game, but Polytron's decision to not patch the game certainly seems justified. The patch caused problems for less than 1% of players, and though Microsoft never confirmed the cost of issuing a patch, it never denied Fish's statement that patching the game would cost tens of thousands of dollars. Polytron is a small developer, literally two people at the time Fez was being developed and released, so it would have been a poor business decision to spend so much of Fez's profits on something that A) wouldn't generate any profit, B) would fix a problem that affected very few players, and C) had the possibility of causing more problems. In game development fixing one problem often creates another. I'm glad to see that Polytron is planning to patch the game now with Microsoft's new policy, especially considering the developer is busy with Fez II, and has publicly spoken against continuing to work with Microsoft.
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