You can't control what other people say to or about you, you can only control how you react to it. Mr. Fish failed to control himself and proved his critics accurate. Canceling his game is only going to hurt his fans, not his critics. But it's his decision to make.

Internet drama! Oh my....

I was hoping you would post something about this Patrick. Thanks.

@bishop113: Oh look, another snarky, mean spirited reply that adds nothing to the conversation and is only about personally attacking someone.

Both Beers and Fish could have acted better in this. Beers didn't have to go out of his way to launch personal attacks and Fish needs to not take every antagonistic troll on the Internet seriously.

@subjugation:

Most of the time he actually brings up relevant concerns. Its good to hear some worries/concerns that the gaming community has actually voiced in the public medium.

@patrickklepek Yeah dude, you are doing a fantastic job at that.

Mark Twain has Twitter advice for Phil Fish:
"Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience."

Yea, I disagree with Marcus Beer.

It is a two-way street, it’s a symbiotic relationship.

I can live without games journalists, but I don't want to live without games.

Great article and commentary.

I like Phil Fish, and like him I've had tendencies to blow up on assholes over the internet, and be obnoxious myself. As I've gotten older and... pretty much just older, I've tried to, if not grow out of it, at least take a breath before sinking down in the internet muck. I moderate a moderately sized gaming website community and sometimes I have to check out for awhile. Gaming "fans" and internet people can be poisonously hateful and aggressive, and it is usually over the littlest, most irrelevant things. But like Patrick mentions, I've also seen some of the most charitable and nicest things of my life in the same place. I hope Fish takes some time to relax and get away from it and comes back to make another brilliant game for us to enjoy. Empathy often seems dead in the gaming community, but it can pop up from time to time in amazing ways.

now Jeff Green approved :D

I think you nailed the article Patrick, and alternatively I would say focus on the 99% of whats good in a person and less on the negative. We have probably all talked someone down from doing something stupid when they were drunk and I think Phil is just drunk on making games which is where the genius comes from. But those people dunks/gamemakers are also easily set off and their emotions can flare just like Beer and Phil.

My take is this. Fish really shouldn't have brought this whole thing into public. By doing so he made the whole thing infinitely worse. He could have addressed beer in private and saved himself all of this grief. I really think that Fish should have had someone from the get go do his PR. He obviously seems like he doesn't want the spotlight nor does he know how to deal with it.

That being said I think Fish also has an abrasive personality at times. Sure, he is probably a nice guy but when you respond to eager PC fans inquiring about a possible FEZ port on PC with "PC's are for spreadsheets" you can't really at that point be surprised that people take offense to that shit.

True,nobody deserves to be treated like shit but I can't help but feel Fish brought some of this on himself by his rather outspoken nature. You're sure as heck free to speak your mind but you also have to reap the consequences good or bad from what you put into the world.

Knock yourself out - http://www.gametrailers.com/shows/annoyed-gamer

People actually defending Fish are just horrendous hypocrites. Fish is an incorrigible asshole to people he doesn't know, because people respond to his shitty behaviour in a similarly shitty manner does not suddenly make Fish the victim.

Seeing an asshole succeed makes the world a shittier place...

In my opinion, this all falls on Beer. He consistently acts like an asshole and then demands someone like Fish to respond to a rumor?! What an asshole.

This is why I hate anyone who labels themselves something like "annoyed gamer".

Forget about Fez II for a moment. Does this mean that the patches for Fez 1 (PC and Xbox 360) are cancelled as well? I mean, Fish didn't just announce the cancellation of Fez, he also said that he's leaving the games industry.

While I was never a fan of Fish's personality, Fez was a hell of a game. A shame to see someone that creative hang it up.

Thank you Patrick for the insight.

Well said.

I'm so glad you pointed out that it's only a minority being vile douchebags, and that a majority of the people on the internet aren't like that. In the other thread people kept saying that it was "us" who caused this, and that "we" suck, when I didn't do shit to this guy. I never send anyone hate mail, and while I do call people stupid occasionally (ok, more than that at times), I usually just say my piece and leave, I don't bail them on.

I'm not a Fish fan, but I've decided to take away something else from the story.

If you have people whom you appreciate, whether they're devs, the GiantBomb crew, or someone who makes Youtube videos, or some person on Etsy, take a little time to send them a positive message.

@blu3v3nom07 said:

Polytron is Fish, I don't think there's people being put out of work aside from him and Disasterpeace due to this decision.

Thanks for putting out your personal take on this strange story Patrick. I still believe if this exchange happened at a bar no one would bat an eye, the magnification of all things by the internet kind of sucks sometimes. Too much drama on all sides. Hopefully we'll play another game by Fish one day, whatever road it takes.

I started reading this with the mindset that I would have preferred for this whole debacle to have been ignored by Giant Bomb. After having read it, I now regret that I had that mindset coming in. Nice piece, Patrick.

Haven't followed Phil Fish much, but what I saw of him when the GB crew interacted with him he seemed okay. Not everyone is a perfect shining knight and everyone has their points when they're being an asshole or being over emotional, but it seems like the Game Informer guys are the ones being the bigger assholes by ridiculing them for not wanting to be quoted. I don't know where they get off being so rude to Jonathan and Phil. Sure Phil may not be the best person at all times (who really is) but that doesn't give them the right as game journalists to attack them for something as simple as a quote for a fucking story.

@rmack: The straight news stories all came out when this was fresh. Patrick publicly said he wasn't going to participate because he wasn't sure he believed it would "stick". We all know the news now. If Patrick didn't use his own insight to augment the article and make it more meaningful then there wouldn't be a point to posting at this time.

write an article about phil fish, end up making it about yourself. nice.

@danlongman: we, Québécois, aren't that bad ;) we just voice our opinions quite loudly. ha ha.

nice article, Patrick, as usual. and even though it's cancelled, I had the same feeling as you. Fish will probably come back with the game in the (not so distant I believe) future. He loves games, and designing them too much. He's a passionate gamer, and game designer, I mean, it's his job. He won't let that go just like that, I think he just needs some time off this thing, this world. And it's probably better for all of us, the gamers, the press, and especially for him. If he comes back with a more 'mature' mindset, and as you said, tries to satisfy the good bunch, the 99%, he'll be a successful game designer, and maybe a likeable one.

But for now, everyone needs a break.

Blog posts filled as news about your father passing and you having a thick skin are neither video game news articles or opinions about video games.

Meh.

Great article, man. This whole thing reminds of the old classic Dave Chapelle vs Hollywood stuff.

I hope he takes a break, finds out how to grow a thicker skin and can shrug things off more, and comes back. Even if he doesn't, that's cool too. Unfortunately this shit has to happen for everyone to realize what a shitty place the internet gaming community is. In turn, things get just a little bit better when a bomb goes off like this.

Just let Fish stomp and yell and slam doors until he tires himself out and decides he wants more money. Then he'll release another broken game while telling everyone around him how genius he is.

Great article Patrick! Keep it up!

@patrickklepek Great article. Would read again. :)

Oh yeah

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

...get it?

It seems like it would be exhausting to have Phil in your life.

Sounds like the tone they take (or rather, Beer takes) on the GameTrailer podcast is absolutely dickish and shouldn't happen within a professional gaming context, but then Fish decides to respond like a petulant dick, resorts to the classic 'Limey' insult and shuts everything down.

Pathetic from both sides, but you'd think Fish would know better.

It's a shame Phil Fish responded in the way that he did. Meeting anger with even more anger makes them both look like immature children and Phil Fish comes out looking like a bigger douche than Beer even made him out to be.

Interesting article and viewpoint, good scooping :)

This Beer dude seems like a bit of an idiot for purposely trolling Fish, but seriously - the response from Fish was like a 12 year old on acid. You just can't do that as a public figure, which he is whether he likes it or not.

Also as a Brit, calling someone a 'limey fuck' is incredibly distasteful, seeing as his nationality has literally nothing to do with it. Grow up.

@mdnthrvst: Best thing I read in the whole comment section for this piece. If I could give you a LIKE I would. I Agree with you very much and I don't really dislike or like Fish. I just don't think people undertand what an unfair it is to compare a sparkling firecracker against an atombomb....or a long evergoing bomb raid.

On the other hand. Beer behavior on this matter disgusts me. You owe us? Boycott their games?
I think Patrick is totally right that no one owe no one anything. It just makes Beer come of as a entitled media person that putting himself on a pedistal. F*ck that.

Once again. Good comment.

@phizzle: Did you just create an account to say that ?

Beer is the real tosspot.. and i hope everysingle indiedeveloper ignores that fucking idiot. Not only did he attack Fish and Blow.. He attacked everysingle indiedeveloper. Comparing indiedevelopers to fucking hipsters and such.

Oh so this is what Twitter was bantering about vaguely over the weekend.

So hmm. Not sure where to stand on this. Beer was clearly off the mark in his comments, and name-calling, even in the name of comedy, always strikes me as little more than a bullying tactic. What he said was childish, and betrays his sense of entitlement as a journalist to have all access to the thoughts of developers, beyond even what they're developing. While I'm not going to sign any petition that he be fired, I will say it greatly reduces my respect for his opinions in the future.

But I also can't say that Fish's reaction, especially the "cancellation" of an anticipated project, sits well with me either. All it does is give the impression of someone who doesn't accept criticism, but rather feels the constant need to defend himself, even when the charges against him aren't even founded. I don't want to suggest that all public figures are required to have thick skin, but especially when you're actively talking shit about EVERYONE ELSE? Anticipate someone talking shit about you, respond as constructively as you can and move on. Acting like your game will never come out, or attacking someone's career as being uncreative, makes you appear petty and vindictive.

For someone who talks and walks a big game about wanting to make the world of video games more mature, Fish hasn't gone a great way to mature the way we TALK about games.

I never understood the Fish hate. He was/is a rough edged personality who probably could stand to think before he tweets and a lot of the stuff he said is pretty indefensible. But ya know what he gets a lot of shit from anon fucktards who have nothing better to do than shit on him. The whole "japan games suck" comment was blown totally out of porportion and people still bring it up. Maybe because I don't follow him on Twitter. But I see no reason why I should actively hate Phil Fish, hate is a hard thing to do.

Fucking love the internet. It's a great thing while sumultenously being the worst thing. Yes you can "trun it off" but that's not the proper way of dealing with things. My mom dosen't get that when cyber bulling is brough up. Yes you can block people but they just make new accounts and so on. You really can't turn off the internet and social media. it is too good a platform to not use it. There are just jerks who ruin it for everyone.

I enjoy that Fish speaks his mind. I don't always agree but it's refreshing when this community (general gaming community not Giant Bomb) constantly deried and lament all the PR non-anserw double speak that seems to come out. Which is why I love Giant Bomb so much y'all get the real shit.

Whatever it is I hope Phil Fish is happier now.

@johnlongview: Because Patrick does a lot of good stuff, and he does a lot of stuff I think is idiotic. And the comments aren't made just for sunshine and roses.

I'd never heard of Marcus Beer before this weekend, and judging by what I saw, I'm okay with remaining ignorant to him. Phil Fish may be a pretentious ass (may be, I don't know him personally, so I can only judge by what he chooses as his public persona), but he made a game I like, so it does bug me a bit if he doesn't make future games. Oh, well.

Surprised you didn't put a little picture of yourself in the corner of the article Patrick.

EDIT: Oh wait that's totally what you did! I missed the klepek gallery in the middle of the article.

Honestly, there is no defense whatsoever to Fish's reaction. Marcus Beer did his thing, and he spoke his opinion. Phil Fish has a long history of extremely poor behaviour on social media. There is even a large following that simply will not play Fez because of Phil Fish persona. I personally say, judge the art not the artist. This was it though, Phil needs someone to help him just ignore stuff like this. You cannot tell someone to kill themself for insulting you if you want to be treated nicely. Fish deserved everything he got, cause everything he got he caused himself.

Sometimes, you just gotta turn off the phone and take a breath.

I really hate people who tell others what they have to do to be successful. As if they know how to do someone else's job. And they always place themselves as the most important part of the equation.

Beer is saying things like "if you want success you've got to come to the press and tell us everything we ask, you're not allowed to complain about anything!" No! Eff that. Developers don't have some obligation to just shut up and take it. They shouldn't just be constantly prostrating at the feet of gamers and the press because they are so privileged. They aren't, and they don't owe anyone anything.