Fez 2 cancelled, Fish swims away from the game industry

During E3, in a surprise move that no one saw coming, Fez creator Phil Fish announced that he was making a sequel to Eurogamer's 2012 Game of the Year, Fez. Now, in an even more surprising move, he's cancelled it.

"It's with a heavy heart that we announce that Fez 2 has been cancelled and is no longer in development," read developer Polytron's recent tweet. "We apologise for the disappointment."

Prior to that, Fish stated on Twitter, "I'm getting out of games because I choose not to put up with this abuse anymore."

Some have speculated that Fish's abrupt departure from the industry was due to GameTrailers producer Marcus "Annoyed Gamer" Beer lashing out at the Fez creator on the Invisible Walls program where he called Fish a "tosspot" and "f****** hipster" for his refusal to comment on Microsoft's recent decision to allow self-publishing on Xbox One. Fish maintained that his departure from the industry wasn't based on this incident alone, however, but was "the end of a long, bloody campaign."

His official statement on Polytron's site reads as follows:

"Fez 2 is cancelled. I am done. I take the money and I run. This is as much as I can stomach. This is isn't the result of any one thing, but the end of a long, bloody campaign. You win."

I've reached out to Fish for comment, but given his recent frustration with the media, I wouldn't hold my breath.