One of the black eyes that has prevented Microsoft from improving the reputation it has among indie gamers is the curious case of Fez. The game was released to great acclaim to the Xbox Live Arcade, however a game-breaking bug eventually appeared, after a patch to fix several bugs resulted in a small number of users getting their save files corrupted. Developer Phil Fish decided to remove the patch, and then proceeded to lambast Microsoft at every opportunity over their policy of charging tens of thousands of dollars to resubmit games to the Xbox Live Arcade. Now, however, it appears that Fez is going to finally get this error fixed, according to a message on Phil Fish's Twitter:
"GOOD NEWS EVERYONE: we're going to patch FEZ on XBLA!"
This news is most likely caused by Microsoft quietly removing the policy that caused Phil Fish's rage in the first place, so that Fez and other games on the Xbox Live Arcade no longer have to pay up in order to get continuous fixes after launch. This closes one of the ugliest controversies for Microsoft, even if Fez 2 is not going to appear on the Xbox One. Now Microsoft can focus on continuing to shape their strategies for the Xbox One as they compete with Sony for the coveted indie game market.
While this certainly is good news for those who have Fez on the Xbox 360 already, the game has since traveled to the PC, and the damage has been done concerning the game's reputation on Microsoft's console. Phil Fish will most likely will not end his vendetta against Microsoft even after this news, so it looks like the company will have to continue to try harder to get indie companies on their side, the same way Sony has with prominent indie studios such as thatgamecompany.
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