9. Phil Fish Actually Retires, From Real This Time
Anybody whos settled down to watch the 2012 documentary Indie Game: The Movie will realise that Phil Fish is an odd bird (gamers are always getting those two creatures mixed up, apparently). The film focuses on a handful of grassroots developers, with the maker of Braid coming across as a complete tool, the pair behind Super Meat Boy being basically decent and relatable human beings, and the creator of Fez...is difficult the diplomatic way of putting it? Difficult. Throughout the development cycle of his superlative 2D-yet-3D pixelly platforming puzzler Fish had to deal with the loss of his creative partner and all the ensuing legal palaver that followed, which didnt really help with the already fiery temperament he wielded. Following some kick back to his public persona, he announced his retirement from the industry last year. It stuck for about as long as every one of Jay-Zs attempts at retirement do, however, with Fish still being fairly active within the indie gaming scene, although he stood by the cancellation of a sequel to Fez (mores the pity). Following his speaking out about one of this years other big scandals, however, the company records of Fishs studio Polytron were hacked and leaked, and Fish announced he was putting the company - and the rights to Fez - up for sale.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
