Phil Fish: Gaming's Most Hated Developer

[@About9000]

"He didn't have the best social skills" = Threatening to kill your ex and/or yourself.

[@Nellooo]

By ex-partner I meant Shawn McGrath haha. Sorry for the confusion. But still yeah, not a great thing for him to say haha.

[@Shadow_Enz]

@@Nellooo Death threats are prosecutable offenses. In this age of cyberbullying and subsequent suicides, you don't tell people to do that. Ever. It speaks volumes about his character and his personal values.

[@sirrealism7300]

​@@Shadow_Enzgrow up.

[@AtlasIsAgatlingGun]

You know that kinda happens alot

[@Diablosatori]

lol right? this video was unreasonably defensive of phil

[@baddragonite]

Fun fact: The Japanese developer who Phil Fish went off on his rant about Japanese games on stage is named Makoto Goto and he's had a pretty long running career in the industry both in AAA and Indie

[@cormano64]

Thanks for the info. Seeing from his Moby profile, he seems to have far more game development experience than Fish.

[@oo--7714]

Phil made more money though

[@HerMi.T]

@@oo--7714 how?

[@niquel5831]

@@oo--7714 So?

[@Leprutz]

Okay... but name me please any japanese game that actually is mind blowing? Let's just take Zelda and Mario out of it. To be fair I don't know and don't remember any game being japanese. Phil is kinda right. They are lacking falling behind.

[@TigerKirby215]

Phil Fish is perhaps the literal definition of Twitter toxicity, and maybe the first true time Twitter toxicity ever became a mainstream thing. People with no understanding of what they're talking about yelling at each other and turning everything into a personal attack.

[@amadeusagripino6862]

Not only twitter, but hipster culture as a whole

[@ccricers]

@@amadeusagripino6862 Phil does look and talk like the average hipster I've seen in art college.

[@ofearghailthefearless6481]

He's also the perfect example of what happens when you let your ego get the better of you

[@keres993]

Fez wasn't that good. B- at best, and that is being generous.

[@vinesauceobscurities]

Meanwhile, Hideki Kamiya had been celebrated as a master troll for doing the exact thing.

[@leakyabstraction]

There is a difference between being socially awkward/inexperienced and being a total jerk who lashes out with pathological levels of hatred to any criticism.

[@Spencer-wc6ew]

Right. Socially awkward means you are bad at communicating what you mean. You may _sound_ rude when your intention wasn't rude. Phil seems excellent at communicating his shitty thoughts. He sounded rude, because his intention was rude.

[@thatONEmachine]

So DSP?

[@carl5192]

Who cares. Stop being babies.

[@tobubiify]

He is the result of unchecked mental illness

[@illegalsmirf]

@@Spencer-wc6ew So being socially awkward is a kind of mental retardation whereas being a total jerk means you have normal capacities but negative emotions.

[@hoxyheart5479]

This statement about japanese games aged very poorly as well. Which is the cherry on top for me.

[@gmilh]

5:49 [Japanese developers] your time has passed. Miyazaki Hidetaka: and I took that personally.

[@zhawkmoth3653]

Yea I don't forgive this idiot for that... people like him ruined Japanese games for the west and gave many Japanese Devs a complex. Yoshi P actually covers how this toxic rhetoric had a negative impact on Japanese devs and put a stigma on the term JRPG, which could be compared to racism. And it WAS racism.

[@BathrobeHero]

Aged incredibly poorly

[@flarestorm9417]

Man made one big indie hit and thought he was a better creative than all of Japan.

[@hotcosby4249]

Our god michael zaki

[@itsjonesh]

The most golden thing about that, is that Phil said that during the time that both Demon Souls and OG Dark Souls were already a thing. And if you go back even more, Armored Core. Miyazaki was involved in all those projects, so his argument was already flawed by the time (unless we talking turn-based RPGs. Most were not good. Not good at all).

[@rehfeuge]

How long has it been since Fez? The reality is: most people genuinely have no memory of him now.

[@faizalf119]

When a guy so toxic people memory holed him so hard because it doesn't benefit them mentally and physically to remember him

[@rehfeuge]

@@faizalf119 Damnatio Memoriae

[@diegosotomiranda4107]

Specially cause in The ocean of indie games and devs Phil and fez has been outdone Big time, i mean who tf would put fez above Hollow knight? Phil and his peers of that pretentious movie are like those shitty metal bands of the 80s that Nobody listened but a "selected" group of snobs phraise them like pioneers and geniouses

[@the_gaming_master]

@@diegosotomiranda4107 id put fez above hollow knight

[@krakenandtheratmovies781]

@@diegosotomiranda4107i'd put it above Hollow Knight. Hollow Knight is great, but there are tons of metroidvania games. There is nothing else like Fez.

[@BloodruneEnt.]

There’s a problem with Fez winning two awards from the same indie events when the rules explicitly stated the same game couldn’t be put on the listing if it previously won an award before. It won that second award on the technicality that the more finished game was somehow “different”, when it wasn’t. Many indie devs at the time, much smaller, were upset because they were ignored and were just as outraged by the fact Fez won an award and got resubmitted another year after its development finished and won another. Yes it’s tragic he let criticism get to him, but most of that criticism was well warranted when him and those closely tied to him scammed out a lot of smaller indie devs who already have it rough trying to break into the industry for a chance to win is gated off to a small circle of friends that ignored how the events were poorly handled for years from the compliants of a majorityof event attendees. I don’t believe Him, his company, and those folks should’ve been doxxed, but he honestly did himself no favors when he let any of that get to him.

[@DioBrandoWRYYYYYY]

Phil was not a grassroots figure who somehow came to the front of the indie scene because of "great talent" and "great vision'. He was a completely astroturfed figure, an "It" guy that the games media wanted to make because he shared all of their garbage opinions.

[@BloodruneEnt.]

@@DioBrandoWRYYYYYY that’s definitely the type of feeling I get from him, the current scene still acts as an offshoot of the AAA scene, much like a high school clique, a lot of smaller devs were mistreated by the IGA staff. Phil’s words were also echoed for a long time about JRPGs that it really demoralized most JP devs, they weren’t subtle about their xenophobia either, if they wanted to be critical about how JP devs seemed lost with their direction, they could’ve handled it better, but that’d be like acknowledging the JP devs cared, they cared a lot about the feedback.

[@cyberninjazero5659]

​@@DioBrandoWRYYYYYY Also they were directly financially invested in his company

[@DioBrandoWRYYYYYY]

@@cyberninjazero5659 I know! Also remember Gone Home? Gee I wonder how that trash got so much traction... It can't be because it's just jurnos and indie devs conspiring to artificially generate demand for a BS nothing game, right?

[@faizalf119]

Yeah I always have sneaking suspicion that nepotism is involved and now I'm now justified. He ruined the indie scene because he became the poster child for indie and now people indies are full of arrogant know it all spoiled children and to be fair it's partially true. He also soured me of playing games with simple pixels because I think it's just what lazy devs did

[@Gat720Dua]

That whole GDC thing really bothers me, not just Phil but how it seems everyone laughed with him.

[@faizalf119]

GDC is already toxic for years. Full or socially awkward people who act like bullies if given the chance. Even 2023 GDC there's already reports of people got roofied, or getting lured to hotel room, or sexual harrasment. What made me mad is that the Japanese guy is genuinely want to learn and spent his own money fly and stay in USA expecting a polite society and civil conversation. Phil Fish deserves the hate and I hope he works in sewer or septic tank

[@theotherjared9824]

That was a time when hating on Japanese games was a social norm. Go back and watch some old G4 reviews. They are weirdly open and venomous about it. It got to the point where some japanese developers have come out and said they see the term JRPG as basically a derogatory slur.

[@Gat720Dua]

@@theotherjared9824 I've heard of it.

[@VanBurenOfficial]

The fish was delish and it made quite a dish

[@Seancstudiogames]

I never saw this before today, I paused the video as I was floored at both Phil and the reaction of the dev's. I had to walk around raving about them shitting on the giants who's shoulders they are standing on. So MANY amazing game companies out of Japan and THIS is their thanks.

[@zzzzzz-rn3oh]

We need the Japanese version of Phil Fish to tell western developers they suck now and motivate them to fix themselves.

[@SECVTOR91]

that would be a fact; not an opinion AND wont be assinine like Fish fucker here.

[@TerranigmaQuintet]

Someone like Hideki kamiya for example hehe

[@Ghalion666]

They weren't broken before though. In fact they are more broken now.

[@diamondhamster4320]

Miyazaki from FromSoft will do.

[@jebril]

I for once agree especially after Star field what a fucking disappointment.... I know Bethesda can do better than this shit wtf happened

[@jikal9032]

Phil's got strong Reddit mod energy

[@TSD4027]

Too stable to be a reddit mod. Admin maybe.

[@lucascoval828]

"That's enough out of you! This thread is locked!"

[@luisapaza317]

I feel like he has the energy of a fascist 4channer lol

[@DioBrandoWRYYYYYY]

he also has diddler physiognomy

[@lucascoval828]

@@luisapaza317 Didn't he defend Zoe Quinn?

[@meadebe]

I disagree with your assessment. Phil was having problems in the game industry before he was famous, and it can be argued that he wasn't a good person to work with. He 100% deserves the hate, specially since it's apparent he hasn't really changed. Like he canceled a game and or games because he couldn't handle critics, not even critics of his game, people critical of him

[@JesseWhiteman117]

Exactly my thoughts. Phil dug himself a hole, took a break, and then made the hole deeper.

[@Life-Sky]

There's scammers, rapists and murderers in this world right? Yet an oversensitive dev with self esteem issues and fear of criticism gets a lot of hate online by the media and people think it's deserved, like it would somehow fix his mental health.

[@vitorgabrielgomesrodrigues]

​@@Life-Sky Hitler existed, does that mean bad people shouldn't be criticized for their actions since "Hitler did worse"? No.

[@Life-Sky]

@@vitorgabrielgomesrodrigues calling the dev "bad people" is already subjective, like is he a bad person for being overreactive on twitter? Were in the scale of good to bad does he belong then?

[@vitorgabrielgomesrodrigues]

@@Life-Sky That doesn't matter, just wanted to show how your argument makes no sense

[@Catkeeper]

I can't agree. He wasn't just an arsehole, he was mean spirited, arrogant, and unable to take what he dished out. He was able tear into an entire country on stage, treating the guy that asked like he repped all other devs, and then when he's a little bit criticised himself resorts to telling people to go kill themselves. Phil Fish may have apologised since but he didn't stop being an arse. And while the Japanese gentleman may have thanked him for the motivation, that doesn't absolve him. I too thank my school bullies for teaching me how to take a punch to the face, I'm not about to say that made punching people in the face excusable.

[@james79ableify]

Yep. Can't agree more with you. The guy is just crazy.....

[@tamerofhorses2200]

"he was mean spirited, arrogant, and unable to take what he dished out" Yeah that's called vulnerable narcissism bro, he was obviously one

[@drygordspellweaver8761]

Exactly like Jonathan Blow

[@timpize8733]

He didn't "tear into an entire country", he gave his honest opinion about _games_ from a certain country, when asked specifically. And the people he told to go k*ll themselves didn't "criticise him a little bit", but insulted him pretty violently. In everything you wrote, the only valid point is that he's arrogant, but it was just a response to all the hate he got. The guy is obviously not mean spirited in the slightest, and you're just demonstrating here how strong the bandwagon against him was and still is.

[@ezelegui7901]

@@timpize8733 bro defending a loser narcissist, you are lame asf

[@LeandroMartinscg]

Judging the way Phil Fish acts and portrayed himself I would not get surprised If he get diagnosed as a narcisist, because he shows some clear signs of it

[@UkuleleAversion]

Narcissist? Not so sure. But I get why you'd say that. Definitely has the vibe of someone with a class B personality disorder (under which NPD falls).

[@Tpoleful]

Phil is 100% NPD. The guy is obvious on camera. So you could tell how he is off camera. He clearly had the talent to go far but his narcissism overtook his potential.

[@Skyte100]

Part of his problem i think was he didn't like being in the spotlight of the media after Indie Game the movie. His other problems include being a general shithead.

[@crystalwater505]

Phil Fish is a white Low Tier God with no muscles.

[@koonsickgreen6272]

So is he dead?

[@teetea7734]

While there were things Japanese devs could have been doing better at the time, Phil wasn't giving criticism, he took an opportunity to blatantly insult them to their faces in order to boost his own ego. Phil never learned from past negative interactions, refused to self-reflect, and refused to try and grow into a better person. Phil absolutely deserved to be chased out of the industry.

[@doe-dw9lo]

The worst he's done was be insensitive and mean, which set people off personally. People should be judged in an industry by their work, but he was harassed and doxxed out. Although he did apologize for what he said to that japanese guy, I think it's unreasonable to ask someone to change their entire personality just because you dislike his character. He honestly wasn't that bad. This entire thing is a reflection on how socially f-ed up the internet can be when they pick a trendy topic to lampoon.

[@endajd.]

Are you adult? Or have you ever tried to change yourself?

[@marymikel9193]

​​​@@doe-dw9loIf you're character is flawed then change it. It's not "unreasonable" to ask or tell someone to.

[@doe-dw9lo]

@@marymikel9193 I'm not saying you shouldn't change. I'm saying he didn't deserve what he got. and I'm not giving random scumbags online that win.

[@marymikel9193]

@@doe-dw9lo Well, sometimes when you do wrong, the consequences can seem greater than you expect.

[@NekoHazrd]

Phil is just a baby that can't handle any type of criticism, be it constructive or not. He has been rude af since the begining for no reason. Treat people how you want to be treated or face the consequences of your own actions.

[@theblocksays]

And apparently lived in a friggn' bubble if he honestly believed PCs are for spreadsheets. What a moron.

[@user-nm9yd4wq4s]

most polite french person

[@ExtremeWreck]

That statement makes me amazed that Fez turned out good at all. With his attitude, he could've made it one of the worst games to have ever been made.

[@Zodroo_Tint]

Treat people how you want to be treated? I treated people well all my life and they treaded me like shit. I started to treat them like shit too and now they treat me with respect. Sorry bro but we living in an upside down world.

[@NekoHazrd]

@@Zodroo_Tint I mean, it's still the same concept pretty much. You get treated like shit, you throw that shit right back at them. Not everyone in this world has common sense or is civil.

[@cynthia-op8rx]

Phil's story is a tragedy to me. He's clearly talented and clearly cares deeply about the craft. He just happens to have the worst combination of personality traits imaginable for his situation. In a world where he had a development partner who was less of an asshole to help him with media I think he could have done so much.

[@Nellooo]

So true!

[@GlimpG]

Maybe he's neurodivergent in some way, that could explain the no-filter thing

[@TheGraveyarder]

i wonder if working at ubisoft turned him into this spiteful toxic person or if he was always like that 😂

[@ruaghs7123]

@@DelPlays that doesn't remove the fact that Sean Murray and Hello Games did release an incomplete game, and the lack of communication post release did them zero favors either

[@ruaghs7123]

@@DelPlays and that doesn't remove the fact that the game was clearly released incomplete, on top of the plethora of technical problems the game had

[@martuuk8964]

The Japanese dev thanking Phil probably wasn’t genuine gratitude. The Japanese have different cultural protocols when it comes to business (one of the reasons Bill Gates flunked hard over there trying to pitch the first XBox) and I think this is one of them. It’s all about face. I’m certain he worked harder but not because he felt gratitude toward Phil, but telling the public he had gratitude allows him to be seen as gracious and the better man.

[@tbotalpha8133]

Honestly, a westerner with any sense would probably act the same. As you say, be the better man. If someone's being an asshole in public, the best way to make them look even worse is to not stoop to their level. ...I also imagine that, if Phil's words were any motivation, it was probably out of spite for the man, not respect for him.

[@richardharris9708]

I completely agree, the thanking here was politeness, not genuine at all. The Japanese dude was most likely devestated by that rude comment.

[@doannhat808]

In retrospect, his biggest mistake was not caring for the people who love his work. While caring greatly of those who hates him. Insufferable visionary artists are common. What seems get them long or successful careers, in spite of hate from many, is having fanatical followers of what they make. FEZ are loved by many that played it. Yet the bulk engagement on Twitter were responding to haters (of him, not the game). Most who played FEZ would have bought FEZ 2, its a shame he mistook being hated by many with being hated by everyone.

[@regaul4248]

yea! i think what separates someone like Fish from someone like Kanye is that Phil is just, for some reason, OBSESSED with responding to the people who hated his work

[@chaoticcritical9335]

Out of curiosity with the Japanese games thing-how did the media blow it out of proportion? He was being ridiculously disrespectful to a guy who asked an innocent question.

[@GoodfellasX21]

Well most men can handle a little shit talk...

[@luckyducky7819]

@@GoodfellasX21 Most men can't, and that's the problem with Phil. He can dish out shit talk with ease, but he literally crumbled when criticized himself. Don't confuse giving shit talk with taking it.

[@Sol4rFl4r3]

@@actualwafflesenjoyerlol racist

[@luckyducky7819]

@@desmasic Is knowing about how Gamer Gate started integral to knowing that Phil is a dick? Serious question; I know very little about gamer gate.

[@ajasilikonreffkmimmon]

​@@luckyducky7819Yes, he is somewhat involved, if that was a better word to put it.

[@doordashh]

"japanese games suck" wow , that didint age too well did it , phil? 😂

[@ValensBellator]

I remember that being a fairly popular opinion at the time though, and it wasn’t unjustified.

[@DaBoaringDragon]

At that time, they kinda did. Japanese game studios had been on top of the gaming world for decades. Used to be, a game would be considered bad, outside of a very few exceptions, if a western game studio made it (especially in the 16bit era). However, this got turned around in the 2000s, especially by the start of the 7th console gen. The best games were being made by western devs, and outside of some JRPGs (and most thing Nintendo made), eastern game studios were kinda frowned upon for not keeping up with the time, generally speaking. Nowadays east and west are about equal in terms of game quality and design.

[@diegov1743]

@@DaBoaringDragon In the AAA sphere, Japan is doing much better tbh

[@prezyy]

Thank Phil 🐟 for making Japanese games better. Watch the whole vid

[@ccricers]

@@DaBoaringDragon Keiji Inafune had similar concerns about the state of Japanese games in the 2000s and it's what inspired him to create his own game studio. Unfortunately for him how he got too ambitious for his own good with his Mighty No. 9 project.

[@sonicadv27]

The only reason a whole panel of indie developers agreed that "japanese games sucked" is because they're basically an echo chamber. Even today, they still are. There's this elitism among indie developers, this idea that AAA and AA gaming is doomed, that every game nowadays sucks and the only innovation being made is in the indie space because *only they* understand true good game design. Which is obviously a load of crap, but that mentality still exists. So when a table full of indie darling developers hears one of them say that japanese games suck, of course they all laughed Jeff Bezos style. In the end, i think they were the ones making a fool of themselves.

[@iloveanothermanswives4278]

Kinda ironic when majority of indie games are asset flips, stories withoverused tropes, text to speech voices and low efforted trash.

[@corrinflakes9659]

Good thing Toby Fox has since stepped in who is a big weeb, and Japanese devs will take his game design as innovative as well.

[@galaxyprojectiontechnologi3142]

they do though

[@mercai]

It's 2024 and this bad take has aged like fine milk. Still going to say that AAA games are doing well, and the innovation isn't in the indie'er space? Been keeping up with news and insider news of the industry in, like, last decade? Cool stories, bro.

[@marcussmithwick6326]

I remember messaging him om Facebook after watching the movie as a kid saying how amazing his game was and how I was "sorry for all the bullshit he went through" and he blocked me 😂😂😂

[@bargaintuesday812]

That happened.

[@muffetmissulena6540]

Holy shit, he’s worse than Hideki Kamiya!

[@delian66]

@@series9234 what did *you* make?

[@purpleprinc3]

@@delian66 I made an apple pie today, thanks for asking.

[@Alexander_Grant]

@@delian66 Do you say the same to anyone who criticizes a movie if they have never made a movie? I hate this stupid argument.

[@I_am_a_human_not_a_commodity]

*Things I learned in this video:* _Being an asshole is okay as long as:_ -You apologize right after -There's context -Someone else does much worse

[@0L1]

Truth! "Apologize right after", right. More like, "you suck man, I'm sorry but you do, I'm truly sorry but you really do suck bro, I'm sorry tho"

[@jingthethief]

i dont know man, i think he was wrongfully persecuted by the internet. sure he is a bit reactionary, but thats not a crime.

[@emptyforrest]

@@jingthethief he literally told people to KYS... people have been cancelled for far less.

[@melvintimajo6523]

​@@jingthethiefdude sucks This video trying to downplay how arrogant he is. He is disrespectful he deserve his downfall

[@thebighoney9034]

@@jingthethief "persecuted by the internet" is not a legal punishment, so the context of whether or not what he did was a "crime" doesn't matter. He was being a prick so the internet reacts by being a prick to him. Grow up,

[@MacSmithVideo]

It was not blown out of proportion and he absolutely deserves all the criticism he gets.

[@Nopleaseeeeeee]

Game was mid

[@peoplewithnoname1326]

Not gonna lie, when you mentioned the year 2014, it blew my mind that a man can stir that much shit in just 2 years

[@faizalf119]

What sad is that it took decade to build up trust to be nice and civil and it only took 2 years to turn the whole community into one giant shithole thanks to one person

[@tjbattle7920]

The crazy thing about Phil fish statement about Japanese games is that not only is it bad.. it was completely wrong. 1. A majority of the devs on that panel literally "borrow" a majority of their design from that time. Super meat boy has literally references to a majority of Japanese games. Braid is mario with a rewind button with worst levels and platforming, and fish owes a majority of the look of fez to quote. 2. Japanese games before or around that time are still being talk about today. Demon souls, fire emblem awakening, gravity rush, Yakuza 5, kid icarus, monster hunter, re revelations, persona 4 golden, dark souls, dissdia, rhythm heaven, Kirby return dreamland, bravely default, zero escape... how were they terrible if gamers still crave them? Like where was Phil at? I think he was feeling himself cause of the hype. Fez is dope but to be honest. He only really has that and a majority of that games designed is written right out the Japanese design boom.

[@knaksi]

I urge you to give Braid a shot. In many ways (casting aside the fact that it's a platformer), I would consider Braid to be the antithesis of Mario from both gameplay mechanic and story perspectives.

[@diegosotomiranda4107]

They we're drunk on their success as the mediocre and pretentious twats they were, seing those opinions now it's Even more cringy than when they we're done, cause somehow they had a bunch of idiots licking their boots for some mid games

[@Zephrus_plus]

His Fez game literally borrows main mechanics from classic japanese video games. The dude is definitely odd lol

[@rafindeed]

You can still find good traits of awful games. Bleak faith is a piece of garbage but still have amazing ideas and scenary. I don't think Japanese games are bad but there are a lot of trends present on Japanese game specifically that are awful and can be a breaking point for some people. You can say the same for western games, Slavic games, French games etc etc.

[@orangeslash1667]

@@rafindeed I think Phil was disappointed with Japanese games in the ps3 era of games. He has a point, does he have to be so vague about it????

[@mistergremm735]

I find it hard to sympathise with someone who told someone else to kill themselfs without any sense of irony, at this point you lost all good will from me and I don't think he every apologized to that nor other insane tweets man might be talented but he's sure unhinged maniac too

[@faizalf119]

People like that live surrounded by ivory walls and never experienced true hardship in their life. Pretty much how to define hipsters as well

[@artofadval]

The tweet where Phil told that person to k*ll themselves was a quote from Futurama. It's entirely ironic.

[@PinBiohazard]

Phil Fish, a name I had long forgotten for sure, it's amazing looking back at now how wild it was

[@AdrianGrave]

almost feel nostalgic towards it heh.. he escalated conflicts within the gaming industry and almost gave them a theatrical conclusion.

[@Lucifronz]

I was mostly on the outside of it. Didn't really care that much, but I'd occasionally see a post about it on imgur or some other site and be like "wow, what an asshole". I never cared much about his game to begin with, but I ignored it entirely for the past decade because of how shitty he was as a person. I don't even care if it would have been my favorite game ever, I'd still ignore it to this day. Phil Fish straight-up sucks. His work doesn't deserve to be played.

[@maxwelldavidson4157]

I love how Edmund McMillen just loses it when Phil said Japanese games suck

[@wikitiki209]

Ed, not you

[@m1bl4n]

@@wikitiki209 ?_?

[@FadeScratch]

I think Edmund is one of the few people that are 100% neutral to Phil Fish

[@stingerjohnny9951]

@@FadeScratch I’ll bet that pisses Fish boy off more than hatred. Nothing hurts an egotist more than someone who has absolutely no opinion of them.

[@arciks11]

@@FadeScratch Look up what a character named Judas wears in Edmund's Binding of Isaac game.

[@nesmario123]

he looks like the YIIK protagonist

[@RasmusKudahl]

That makes so much sense, he is our reality’s Alex YIIK

[@DustyCruz]

MIND. FRIGGIN. BLOWN.

[@jaragi]

Glad I’m not the only one who noticed too 😂

[@joenoodle6914]

oh, so he's based.

[@Cri_Jackal]

Open Season the game is actually pretty good fyi, the game is surprisingly immersive outside of the moments that make you go "oh right this is the Open Season tie in game".

[@lumocite9870]

Phil Fish was just an asshole. He could make games and had ideas, but that doesn't excuse that he acted like an asshole. Even when people were nice to him and gave him respect, he talked to them as if he was above them. People that disliked him are well deserved for feeling that way because he doesn't help his situation with how he acts.

[@kuronoroux8864]

Pretty much. Screw the guy for being such an obnoxious asshole with thin skin

[@stingerjohnny9951]

He’s the Rick Sanchez of Indie developers, competent but insufferable

[@HereTakeAFlower]

​@@stingerjohnny9951 sorry if I reply to this old comment but no. He's nowhere near peak game designer, Fez's main mechanic (solving 3d puzzles in a 2d environment) is not new, and although he implemented it properly in his game, he's never going down in history as anything but an arrogant prick. Yes being a successful indie dev is a great feat, but there's people who manage to create more than one good game, or a VERY good game, or simply have more mental fortitude than LowTierGod.

[@stingerjohnny9951]

@@HereTakeAFlower Oh damn, I forgot about low tier god XD

[@krush9673]

About the Japanese dev "thanking" him, if you think he means that, you obviously don't know much about Japanese people. They basically will always be nice in public, no matter what they really think. That is the only way the Japanese dev would've commented on that incident.

[@Skubidi-qy8hb]

You don’t say they will take their victims into an alley and slit their throat?

[@japan1001ify]

@@Skubidi-qy8hb😂.

[@shroomer8294]

“That is the only way the Japanese dev would’ve commented on that incident.” The way you type this sounds more like you’re just assuming that than that you actually know it. Have you actually looked up what he had to say? Cause if not you’d honestly be just as bad as someone wrongly assuming the thanks was genuine imo.

[@baddragonite]

Gamergate got started because a developer slept with a reviewer to get good reviews so the ethics in journalism part should probably be listed first

[@nd7783]

Thank you! I hate people keep ignoring that part.

[@NicholasBrakespear]

I was under the impression that she slept with more than a reviewer; rather, she... slept around quite a bit, while she was in a relationship with someone? I lose track of the details, but I seem to recall the whole thing was sordid and rather repugnant.

[@ge2719]

there was also the years of people noticing "game journalism" corruption, things like i think it was ign giving that kane and lynch game a semi decent review despite it being awful, at a time when the whole website was plastered with adverts for said game. So it was coming out how games studio were just out right paying for better reviews. And then other things coming out like a secret industry black/whitelist being orchestrated/enforced on a private email list, being used to silence and kick people out of the entire videogame industry. zoe quin was a particularly public example because it was combined with her being accused of being abusive (also combined with her "video game" being a html based website "choose your own story" that should barely qualify as a video game). yet the same people who would attack anyone else accused of anything were the ones defending her at the time. would be interesting to see the crossover of people who defended her and who now think russel brand should be deplatformed based on accusations. I'd imagine there a large overlap of people there. But yeah, theres a lot more to it than even all this, so this guy representation of what is what in this video is either lazy at best or intentionally manipulative at worst.

[@AdrianGrave]

it's a major gaslight for sure.. every year that goes by it's like gamergate keeps getting proved right.

[@baddragonite]

@@NicholasBrakespear from what I know she did, but sleeping with the reviewer is what kicked off everything

[@r4z0rv1n3]

I mean clearly, it seems that Phil just isn't capable of doing the PR thing... A lot of people don't realize it's a skill and not everybody can do that... Someone like Phil needs a person to handle that for him, though I get the feeling that Phil would probably not want to relinquish that kind of control... Some people just shouldn't be the public face of their brand... Phil is definitely one of them...

[@marioprawirosudiro7301]

You're putting it WAY too mildly.

[@orangeslash1667]

@@marioprawirosudiro7301 If Phil is this sensitive to any criticism??? Then maybe he should have kept a low profile or just give-up sooner???

[@SolocovGE]

Bad PR is still PR I guess. I think I wouldn't have known about FEZ without all the drama. And I guess watching the sales go up after posting a viral tweet or throwing up your opinion could accelerate this kind of behaviour.

[@orangeslash1667]

@@SolocovGE Sadly that does make sense. Although I was able to know about what makes FEZ so great thanks to TV Tropes.

[@ahorserunning]

The thing that will always bother me the most about all of this is that Phil Fish is NOT Fez. Yes, it may have been his idea, and of course he had his say throughout the game's development. But Phil didn't do any of the coding to make this game a reality whatsoever. He just did the pixel art. His partner in development crime Renaud Bédard literally did all of the coding work by himself. That's the man who actually made the game real and not just a bunch of generic ass pixel art drawings. This is important. Because when Phil put himself out there like an asshole, and got called out for being an asshole, he decided that cancelling this game would be his revenge. What the fuck about Renaud? You know, the guy that actually developed the game? Pixel art is a dime a dozen, a coder like Renaud is not. And I can't imagine what it must have been like to have had your entire current project you've already been coding and working towards so you can survive, be ripped away because the art designer had a twitter fit. Phil didn't deny the world Fez 2, he denied his own team.

[@drygordspellweaver8761]

If he was the programmer then he definitely got a chunk of the profits. Everyone knows the art is nothing and coding is everything.

[@KEVBOYMUSIC]

@@drygordspellweaver8761 "Everyone knows the art is nothing and coding is everything." Um, no, that's ridiculous.

[@KEVBOYMUSIC]

First of all, I very much doubt that the only thing Phil contributed was the art. Either way, the artwork in Fez is not a dime a dozen, that's ridiculous.

[@drygordspellweaver8761]

@@KEVBOYMUSIC A pixel spite artist is a dime a dozen. A competent programmer takes decades of experience and a high IQ. You clearly can't program worth a damn.

[@roxferesr]

The pixel art is the only thing I liked about the game. The 2D|3D mechanics were intriguing at first sight but unfortunately for me didn't lead to fun puzzles or interesting gameplay.

[@etherealhatred]

The problem with Phil is that he does indeed have a lot of arrogance, his inability to socialize as a normal human being has been his demise, his poor choice of words and how much he cared for what people said about him almost at the point of being an obsession His personality as a whole was what doomed all his potential

[@ElvenRaptor]

Additionally, he didn't even answer Makoto Goto's question. Goto's question was "Did any recent Japanese games inspire you?" And instead of answering, Phil Fish took the opportunity to shit all over Mr. Goto and the Japanese game industry. I am so glad karma take up to bite him in the ass for that. The sheer amounts of smugness and ego in that moment had to be punished, and they were.

[@Uncle_Dad]

Saying his "lose weight" comment was a mere response to the "you should shave" comment is tremendously reductive and frames his volatile actions as being somewhat provoked or brought on by others. That might have been the direct response in that situation but this is dismissive of the fact that he was, prior to that exchange and most other exchanges, someone who was already displaying toxic behaviour. So, most would argue that his infamousy is not an accumulation of "bad press" but instead a result of his personality quickly being uncovered as soon as he was given some power and platform. Also, just because the Japanese developer thanked him later that doesn't in any way mean that what Phil said should be framed as a positive contribution. All this means is that the Japanese developer took the higher road and decided to not engage in a petty argument that could end up creating more enemies than it's worth.

[@kusumapau8883]

having a close friend/partner that could act as his spokesman should've done the trick.... kinda hard tho....

[@AvousLP]

Overall a fairly accurate recount of what happened but I'll say your explanation of what started gamergate. You portrayed what it turned into accurately. But what set gamers off was a writer for Kotaku giving glowing recommendations to a game no one heard of by someone no one knew and it came to light that the writer and developer had a intimate relationship and if you weren't in their cliche then you weren't getting covered.

[@IvanBaturaChannel]

It's Depression Quest, though IIRC that allegation was false, he never reviewed it.

[@AvousLP]

@IvanBaturaChannel Nathan Grayson did review and promote it while in a relationship with Quinn but this is nearly a decade old at this point.

[@IvanBaturaChannel]

@@AvousLP Could you point me to that review? I only found mentions of her games in a couple of his articles.

[@AvousLP]

@IvanBaturaChannel I can't post them on KZbin but Google Let's talk about Nathan Grayson's ethical breach. It has archived articles the originals are lost to time.

[@IvanBaturaChannel]

@@AvousLP The reddit post? That's what I found as well, but none of its sources are reviews, just mentions and quotes from her, among other people and their games.

[@TinyToastandJam]

They sold a million copies and couldn't afford a 40k fee to patch it. That sounds really dumb.

[@nsgames24]

I think what's dumber is that Microsoft asked devs for THAT MUCH money, just for another patch

[@LM-nb7rj]

Sounds really dumb to ask for 40k as a patch fee

[@TinyToastandJam]

@@nsgames24 that's 4 cents a copy to implement a patch.

[@anggasurbakti8269]

I believe it's 10k. Some publications report it back then

[@bubicus]

It is not dumb when considered in context. At the time, Microsoft was trying to reduce the number of patches. Some developers were abusing the patch system to make up for ineptitude. Nowadays, frequent patches are expected, but back then, developers were expected to have more stable releases. Additionally, network infrastructure was not as good or cheap back then, so it wasn't as easy as it is now to support frequent updates. Lastly, as somebody pointed out, Fish was complaining about what amounted to 4 cents per copy, which is pretty petty for four pretty pennies.

[@CrippledMerc]

To be fair, a lot of gaming journalism is really awful. Reviewers who don’t know how to get through tutorials, or can’t wrap their head around certain mechanics and give a game a lower score because they suck at games, the incestuous relationship between publishers and the outlets that are review their games. It’s a cesspool deserving of it’s criticisms. I haven’t looked to gaming journalists for their opinions on games in over a decade. They’re good for getting a lot of info out about a game since they have the inside access, but you can’t trust them on giving an unbiased score or rating.

[@Pen_Slinger]

Him calling a person who hates video games a hero says all you need to know about him and how he sees the video game world.

[@SinisterSkyler]

im lost for words how he said with his whole chest that Japan was behind in gaming... did bro never play Final Fantasy? Metal Gear Solid? Pokemon? my man was flat out just hating on an entire country just to fuel his self importance of where he's from.

[@sageofthe6trash]

they are tho. those games are all really bad

[@dylanc6856]

Those games are all 20-30 years old. That's the point.

[@thefaultinourpizza1513]

the problem, especially at the time, was that japanese games had stagnated and most japanese studios were trying to mimic western studios

[@OTooleMcMilligan]

It was just straight up racism common in the west around that time. The FF16 team recently said they consider the term JRPG to be a slur.

[@dlog]

Don't worry, Yakuza will have his ass.

[@Z3ROTH3RT33N]

Gamergate started from a lovers quarrel that was politicized for personal gains.

[@WiiFan20XX]

Honestly, do we even know if any of it was real, from what i remember it was just some rando's blog

[@flarestorm9417]

@@WiiFan20XX Well, it's been a while, but given the way Zoey Quinn acted after that I think there's probably something to that 'sexual favors for good reviews' thing. Keep in mind that he continued to get money for a game that has (and likely never will) be completed (I think Jim Sterling (or whatever she goes by now, since they kept the channel name despite transitioning) even did voice work for it or something). She also lied about the Night in the Woods developer (based on the evidence anyway), which led to him offing himself, and her going into hiding on social media. I don't know if she ever came back after that.

[@stingerjohnny9951]

@@flarestorm9417 They go by James Stephanie Sterling and are fine being referred to as either Jim or Steph. As for gamergate…that shit was just weird man…really fucked up and weird. A part of me believes it was all just a fever Dream I experienced while reading through Reddit.

[@Hilipinapixili]

Gamergate was a soda bottle that had been being shaken for a while. It's not like the animosity between gamers and journalists was anything new. It was also a hashtag, meaning anyone and their grandma could just post whatever rubbish they wanted, add the hashtag and just let it ride. Media spun it as if it was some kind of movement with a clear intention, which it was not, because while many did in fact believe in the message of ethics in journalism, it was also clear that alt-righters weaponized the whole thing like vultures. The responsible thing to do would have been to recognize the unorganized and diverse profile of people using the hashtag, but since the sensible part of the movement was anti-media to begin with, it was in the interest of journalism to paint them all in the same broad strokes of sexism and bigotry, which ended up escalating the mess, alienating more people and giving alt-righters what they wanted. As a result conservative channels skyrocketed in popularity.

[@ge2719]

@@WiiFan20XX "if any of it was real". oh yeah. i'm sure zoe quinn, who was part of a forum of people who's goal was to convince people to self forever sleep, and bragged about managing to do it, i'm sure she was actually a wonderful person. edit, oh and thats on top of the developer flarestorm mentioned, who she lied about and ended up self forever sleeping himself.

[@AirplayDoc]

I’ve been producing a documentary about GamerGate. It will hopefully be out by later this year. It focusses on the Airplay discussion held by the Society of Professional Journalists in 2015. Phil Fish plays a small roll in the film when the topic of Indie Games comes up. The REAL reason why he left the industry, was because that Polytron hack revealed that that several of Fez’s biggest investors were the heads of the Independent Games Festival and stood to financially benefit when the game won the top award at IGF. This was covered in Short Fat Otaku’s entry on Phil for his series Indie-Fensible. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z4CxXqKCabKfodU

[@Malkmusianful]

dude you still think Big Man Tyrone memes are funny

[@AirplayDoc]

@@Malkmusianful Big Man Tyrone is in the documentary. It felt right that he should narrate the trailer.

[@b_delta9725]

i'll watch it and i hope it's actually factual and not some anti-feminist bullshit like many biased gamergate documentaries out there. though after visiting your patreon posts i lost a bit of hope.

[@AdrianGrave]

@@AirplayDoc he was part of the time period too

[@AirplayDoc]

@@b_delta9725 I make sure to stick to the facts in my documentary. I rely on primary sources wherever possible. I am not anti-feminist because I believe that feminism since its inception has splintered into a multitude of factions with mutually exclusive beliefs that the word itself is now meaningless. Plus the only thing on my Patreon is a blog post ranting about how much I hated Matt Walsh's "What is a Woman" documentary.

[@ghaithmohammed7363]

Japanese games were bad during that time, but only in the console space, while handheld devices were completely dominantd with Japanese gems like SMT, FE, Monster Hunter etc. Another thing Phil failed to realize was that Japanese console games were bad at the time BECAUSE of the western influence and the push to "westernize" Japanese IPs.

[@nunyabizfam106]

Unfortunatley the gorced westernization is BEGINNING to ruing japanese games again.😩

[@jebril]

​@@nunyabizfam106you mean like Forspoken? Yes I agree but still Japanese games are in a much better state than they were then.

[@thethrashyone]

And that's exactly why Japanese games (at least from the likes of Sony) are bad _even now._ The sooner Japan goes back to catering to Japanese sensibilities instead of the sensibilities of crybaby westerners, the better.

[@slizzardshroomer9666]

By the books narcissism. You could do a case study on his life and how he interacted with past coworkers and other people.

[@MediaMunkee]

Phil would later go on to become the protagonist of YIIK, in what was widely considered another poor choice for his career.

[@Lordx718]

Phil Fish was cursed with the combination of being highly opinionated and obnoxious while also having paper thin skin. Equally obnoxious devs of the era like David Jaffe and Cliffy B managed to dodge this level of vitriol, so maybe Phil Fish got too much flack.

[@JoelHernandez-tz3vk]

I assume there's a reason most successful businessmen (Elon Musk probably being the only outlier here) prefer to keep a low profile at all times.

[@DioBrandoWRYYYYYY]

hey, at least Cliffy and Jaffe actually made their bones first by making some classic games before they started running their mouths. Phil was already saying really dumb stuff and acting like his opinion on anything mattered long before his mediocre pixel game was released

[@stingerjohnny9951]

@@JoelHernandez-tz3vk Well súper vocal ones like Elon and Donny boy aren’t good business men. They are spoiled brats who inherited most of their wealth and waste money on ego stroking stunts while expecting others to worship them.

[@diegosotomiranda4107]

​@@DioBrandoWRYYYYYYyes but jaffe opinión about Zelda and metroid reels resentment and the typical western devs undermining japanese games for clout, the indie Game movie reekes of the same bs and i always laugh about how Big mouthed they are to the same industry they take so much ideas...

[@DioBrandoWRYYYYYY]

@@diegosotomiranda4107 oh yeah, David Jaffe is a very bitter old lemon-faced has-been who's been desperate to be relevant despite the fact that he hasn't worked on anything big since 2007. But at least Jaffe actually did once make games that people liked, and I think he intentionally says controversial things so it'll be picked up by the media, because I feel like part of his bitterness is that he thinks he never got as famous as thought he should be. Phil on the other hand comes across as a guy who says really dumb stuff and then was surprised that people would call him out for it.

[@DustinM83]

"Threatened to murder his ex partner" ... ... "I still found him to be a likeable character" Am I the only person that find death threats to be a major turnoff?

[@ge2719]

11:20. no she didn't. i watched all the content she put out around video games. pretty much everything she said was lies and massive exaggeration. She had zero valid points.

[@Incog-e1z]

As an indie game developer working on my first game, you need to remember what it’s like to be human. I think that’s what I took away from this.

[@Jeroen-IT]

Unfortunately bad news always spreads much faster/ further the positive news. That's just a quirk of human behavior.

[@MuseHijinks]

Even disregarding whether or not you agree with his defense of Zoe(I don't), it was absolutely his own fault that everyone hated him so much.

[@theotherjared9824]

Fez had the shell of a good idea wrapped around some of the most asinine decisions I've ever seen. I will never forgive him for pretending the word puzzle was clever.

[@BigBoyPudgy]

You must've missed the whole part when everyone and their grandmother was trying to figure out the mysteries of Fez, it was a great time and so was the Word puzzle, stop.

[@Assasin2]

@@BigBoyPudgy No, it wasn’t. Its a bad decision by a dude with an ego and the internet finding something fun at the time doesn’t suddenly make it good

[@stingerjohnny9951]

@@Assasin2 *cough* FNAF…

[@Nikkkkkkkkkkk]

​@@stingerjohnny9951 First game is just a good game 🤭

[@stingerjohnny9951]

@@Nikkkkkkkkkkk I’ll admit it was a fun little time waster with a spooky idea, but that’s all it really was to me as a game, a time waster.

[@sufuninja]

I hope he grows from all of this and can come back as a better version of himself. The more I learn about trauma and the reasons behind why some people feel the need to lash out and defend themselves, the more compassion I have for them.

[@blobbb]

Its absolutely wild seeing someone casually bring up gamergate in 2023 and then dismiss the entire thing as an extremest attempt at silencing people like Anita, Zoe, and Phil. GG was almost purely the result of the games media farming for clicks and attention around a niche and small reaction to Zoe Quinn's ex calling out her bad behavior. You get really close a few times, bringing up how certain topics aren't covered because they don't get clicks. This was one that got a lot of attention, and the media milked and stoked that fire for years.

[@billycross2716]

Sad when you do something so genius it makes you famous, even though you hate the fame.

[@0L1]

Nobody gives a shit today about this platformer that wasn't even his idea to begin with. And even if we did, all of that achievement is possible without acting like a mentally challenged man child. Ever heard of Stardew Valley? Where's the Twitter drama surrounding that? Bro poured his heart out, actually created, coded and released a game, and then somehow didn't feel the need to use this popularity to cosplay a 4chan mod on crack. It can be done.

[@SK-ny5ei]

Reminds me of Eddie Vedder, iirc, who appeared on the cover of Tiger Beat, a magazine for teenage girls who idolized rock stars, without a shirt and giving a sexy look straight into the camera, and the headline was something about how much he hated being famous. Which made him an early internet lolcow. It's idiotic to complain about being famous, when its so easy to just wear a shirt, say no to interviews and magazine cover offers, take your millions and just fuck off to Tahiti or something. It's not hard, billions of people manage to not be famous their whole lives. And I don't think this even applies in the case of Phil Fish. It seems to me what he actually hated was being thought of as a phony and a POS. He only hated fame when he realized it was compounding the number of people in the world who were seeing him for exactly what he was, and calling him out on it. If he had had actual rock star levels of money and worship to go along with his fame and derision, I'm sure he would have stuck it out as long as possible.

[@Maioly]

"Most gamers would agree with what he said" ... nope, no most dudebros who casually play noting but shit like madden and cod might agree, but 99% of other people I see talk about that stupid shit phil said vehemently disagree with him and that entire attitude of the era.

[@DioBrandoWRYYYYYY]

Phil was a completely astroturfed figure. I remember long before FEZ came out, he was already paraded around on all the big games media podcasts where they would treat him like he's this big auteur even though nobody outside of the games media knew who he was. He was not a grass roots figure who came to the front of the indie scene because of some great "vision" or "talent" he had, he was someone the games media wanted to create as a "personality" because he was just like them : an ugly hipster with the same terrible opinions as them. FEZ is an okay game, but it clearly wasn't enough to give Phil the clout to weather the storm that he brewed himself, and I have no sympathy for him. I hope he sleeps with the fishes.

[@RobLang]

I think this video will continue to age badly. You are taking the side of someone who was terrible online. While he didn't physically hurt anyone, psychological scars run deep. His apologies were thin and he demonstrated no remorse by continuing his attacks and lack of self-awareness and the worse actions of others does not absolve him.

[@hanchiman]

He is the reason why I usually give Indie developer a double check what their attitude is. Not because their game is good or bad but due to their attitude and don't deserve my money, not even worth pirating their games.

[@greatbigeyeball]

Well you should also consider that it's not a creator's duty to manage social media and make you like them. Do you prefer fake corporate PR?

[@hanchiman]

@@greatbigeyeball You got me wrong, I don't like anyone. Neither fake PR or up their own ass devs.

[@newtonmarques1271]

Nah you should have the nintendo mindset at those times. "Piracy is literally stealing money from us" think like that and pirate their games with a smile

[@hanchiman]

@@newtonmarques1271 when I started my emulation days in 1998. Super Nes was my first emulation I started

[@newtonmarques1271]

@@hanchiman keep at it nintendo deserves it

[@Watachiz]

"BUT HE DIDN'T HURT ANYONE OR COMMIT ANY CRIMES" THAT'S SOME CRINGE COMMENT TO MAKE

[@OpenMawProductions]

11:32 No, she didn't. She had zero solid points. She literally bought her way into an industry she had no interest in and did it strictly for financial gain. Nearly every single one of her points has been debated and debunked with in depth detailed counter arguements. SHe attacks things without understanding their greater context. IE: Bayonetta is a male power fantasy and demonstrates how sexist men view women as nothing more than sex objects... Even though the character is incredibly powerful, nigh God-like, and... Oh... Yeah... Created by a woman.

[@loubloom1941]

11:16 Gamergate never really devolved into hating anyone. It was mostly just the media and political activists decrying it as a "hate movement" that made it seem like that. I'm sure there were some people who came in later on that tried to shift it towards that, but not most. Gamergate was silly and cringey either way.

[@masterprick1]

Yeah, at the beginning it was clearly a reaction to scummy practices in gaming journalism. I think at this point, the whole thing has been co-opted by actual shitty people.

[@d.h.foster8937]

​@@masterprick1 the whole thing was idiotic schizophosting that took an ex's pissed-off blogpost as evidence of game journalists trading sex for reviews and turned it into an obnoxious twitter crusade that overall revealed: 1. game journalists have a slack where they talk to each other 2. ???? until it eventually turned into another circlejerk about 'forced diversity' and people with blue hair and pronouns if you needed gamergate and its eceleb crowd of middle-aged alcoholics and pillheads to tell you that review scores are at least partially marketing you are a moron, simple as

[@kumoraifox6357]

There have been examples by people how Gamergate became a hate movement that push back anything considered "woke", i.e. women allowed to have opinions.

[@Chinothebad]

@@masterprick1 Co-opted or at least having people like Milo Yiannopolous acting as a sort of face for it.

[@Born...]

You half azzed this by not talking about the people phil was "defending" on twitter. One of those women bullied a man to suicide... and Phil stuck up for her. That is just one reason GG went after him.

[@maozedong69420]

Source?

[@nd7783]

Yeah it didn’t sit right with me that he just glossed over that.

[@sazaki1999]

Oh no, was the bullied person the composer for night in the wood...

[@iigel352]

Regarding the Japanese guy, I don't think Phil is the only asshole there. The devs next to him is enjoying the moment as well. I am pretty sure tht The Japanese guy felt really bad not after what Phil said but after seeing the other devs' reactions.

[@ge2719]

i dont think all the people up there are devs. that other guy with the dark hair and glasses who looks like generic nerd. i forget his name. hes just a geek culture journalist who for some reason always gets on panels, award shows and things like that even though he doesn't make games.

[@otaking3582]

To this day, I still haven't played Fez because I refuse to give that PoS any of my money.

[@fulcrum6760]

You know I used to act like Phil when I was a teenager, thank god I grew up from that.

[@stingerjohnny9951]

We’ve all had that cringy “I’m so smart” phase as teens, nothing to be ashamed of pal. … The cringe will never leave you though. One random night you will be awake in bed staring at the ceiling while thinking of some god awful thing you said.

[@ThirdXavier]

6:35 I really don't think the articles were blowing this out of proportion at all, honestly if anything what he said was horrible and the fact that panelists agreed with him reflected a xenophobia in the games industry that still is prevalent to this day. What he did was just flat out extremely racist, he told a Japanese developer to his face that everyone from his country makes bad games. If anything "Phil FIsh slams Japan" is an understatement, he publicly humiliated a man basically just for being Japanese and then shat on the country's entire legacy in the games industry.

[@MaxYari]

Notice among those nominations a game called "hammerfight"? An unrightfully forgotten gem, utterly unique game with a unique feel and a REALLY fun combat that still holds up great visually today. YOU HAVE TO PLAY IT.

[@x0re89]

anita and solid arguments.. yeah this dont checks out

[@Nellooo]

I watched a few of her "Tropes vs Women in Video Games" videos and they're not as bad as people think. However some of her points were laughably dumb.

[@candide1065]

@@Nellooo Her videos are worse than people think. But I hope she sees this at least.

[@benjaminbeltran7004]

@@Nellooo Not as bad doesn't mean good. She IS a grifter and an absolutely negative influence on gaming culture.

[@espirite]

Phil Fish is what i imagine most people on Steam Discussions and Reddit gaming subs to be like in real life.

[@Zectifin]

You're probably correct in that assessment.

[@HakuHakuHakuEn]

good until the gg part. you got it completely wrong and just put fiction in your video for some reason. KIA was not "The gg subreddit" lol and the events you described are completely fictionalized. its akin to describing the moonlanding as "nasa went to Iceland to pick up a fallen satellite sometime in the 60's, who knows why"

[@iloveanothermanswives4278]

He is just a Phil Fish shill. Ignore this video.

[@astral_haze]

it's honestly strange how i remember this guy being universally hated years ago. worse internet celebrities come a dime a dozen, like sneako, who get far, far less hate. but then, i guess I was a kid back then, so that probably affects what I saw of things greatly

[@EluneMusic]

Bro people’s main problem with Anita Sarkeesian was not her “PC takes” what a lie. Their problem was her cohort of people like Zoe Quinn weaseling their way to the top of games journalism CORRUPTLY. Seriously, they were being so unethical. That was the problem people had with them…

[@genericusername9997]

Seeing people casually mention Gamergate and then go off on how it was some extremist overreaction to supposedly tepid and completely upstanding "political correctness", let alone categorizing the movement as "chilling" or "threatening" is absolutely wild to me given I was around witnessing that particular shitstorm both before after and during. The best classification I can give GamerGate is that is was a consumer revolt against the utter corruption and identitarian infiltration of the gaming press as a whole. Specifically highlighted were issues of review scores being weighted based on personal relationships and political messaging. Additionally, of note was the reveal of an internal mailing list across the entire game journalist profession where individuals coordinated and conspired to push their own beliefs, agendas, and personal connections. That list being referred to as "GameJournoPros", and it was revealed to the public after coordinated articles claiming that "gamers are dead, gamers don't have to be your audience, gamers are all *assorted titles of bigot*.", were released within hours of each other on the same day from multiple supposedly independent outlets. Then came waves of censorship, blanket accusations of bigotry towards the entire audience, quashing of any criticism or reporting on the aforementioned conflicts of interest, and attempted rewriting of history to this day. For anyone curious about the group itself, it largely died off and splintered between individuals more interested in politics versus the hobby itself. As for a decent info repository, there was a place called deepfreeze, but I forget what the full address of it was. I'm sure with some digging you could find it, especially seeing as it has evidence of all these claims and more. I hope the revisionist history never takes hold, because it was obnoxious enough seeing the blatant slander even back then.

[@_.-.]

You the real ones for fighting against the history rewriting after all this time

[@goofygoob420]

Gamer gate was such a fever dream

[@negima1276]

I didn’t even think Fez was anything to get that excited over. It’s fine, bust just fine

[@GDScriptDude]

From the movie, it seemed like Phil was under immense pressure daily for years. So that may well have took a toll on his mental health. We need to take regular breaks from intense development periods to get settled back to normal I think.

[@zachattack4322]

Really enjoyed the video! Its very comprehensive and finally feel like I actually understand the situation around phil fish rather then just hearing about him as this mythical boogyman of game development

[@Nellooo]

Thank you!

[@nicolasm.bronner2747]

I'm delighted to see a fresh perspective on Phil. I also follow him since Fez, and every once in awhile check if he's back, because like you, i'm a fan, and yes, sure, he have social difficulties and spoke faster than his mind, but he is an artistic genius, and i will remember him for that!

[@Big-Chungus21]

He’s also quite hated by other game developers, and during my game design course was used an example of what not to follow. He was good at programming, good at game development, but had absolutely no desire to understand the player, player motivation or really respect the player at all. Whenever the player was able to do something he didnt like, his first thought was “how can I stop this” before anything else, on a lot of the games he developed. Game Design is 1 part programming, 1 part art / creativity, and 1 part theory / psychology. If you lack one of the first two parts, you can get by. There have been many great games that have been made by people who dont know how to program (Undertale comes to mind) or weren’t good at art, but very few that were made by people who didnt understand what people like about games. When you’re an Indie game developer, that last part can be sort of fixed by making a game for yourself, you know what you want to see in the game. Keeping that mindset however will only ever keep you stuck with an incredibly niche audience, and very few ways to move up in the industry. Phil Fish is the anti- Edmund McMillen, as Edmund has plenty of creativity and his own vision put into his games, but understood that the player isnt your enemy. Gamergate was one of the few times I’ve ever found him agreeable though. Sometimes what he said was misrepresented, but he deserved 95% of the hate he got. As much as he loved making games, I dont think he was cut out for the industry.

[@linuxman7777]

Yep this video sums it up good. When it comes to making games, of course some people are going to dislike your game, but don't get worked up about it. Look at their criticisms, decide if it is valid, if it is go and improve it. Look at the first pokemon games, they were a complete buggy mess, were constantly derided in the media for social reasons, and seen as a bad influence. What did Gamefreak do? Instead of arguing with all the critics, they made better games later on.

[@YASYTU]

The ending seems like a tacked on "but guess what, even though I just showed you what an arsehole phil fish is, i still love him" just to be controversial and generate a lot of comments, which means interaction, which means more youtube ad money.

[@soulezwan266]

Looking back at the 2000 era game, I still play a lot more japanese games on psp and a few western games at that time. It's probably more on my taste of the game since even western games have the same vibe as the japanese game. Hey if it's good it will be good forever.

[@Hawqer]

Life lesson: never fight the internet

[@artemisDev]

life lesson: don't be an asshole

[@diegosotomiranda4107]

Not been a prick would help too...but he couldnt help his douche nature

[@dreamsprayanimation]

Unless you are Boxxy or Chad Warden.

[@dogaocalvo]

Man, the moment he said that thing to the Japanese developer I just got pissed off. It's okay to not think japanese games are awesome, but the comment really sounded not just like a criticism to japanese games itself, it looked like xenophobia, and everyone on that table laughing make it look worse.

[@DieterPrivate]

There is a difference between your own likes and the objective truth. That is what makes this dude so awful. All he thinks is truth and must be seen as the truth....

[@JoniWan77]

@@DieterPrivate Honestly, the only thing he did was making a point in the most undiplomatic way ever, which was at the time pretty much mainstream opinion among western devs and gamers. But hearing it said out loud in such an unfiltered way just proved how bad and vile that mainstream take was and how much poison-tongued schadenfreude and arrogance was part of it.

[@Gregtami]

No real value was lost. His actions let to his downfall. He can blame only himself for all of this.

[@thefaultinourpizza1513]

There’s a really good video about Fish by innuendo studios that talks about how Phil, who was used to being in a small forum, couldn’t adjust to the instant fame and large audience.

[@dedstring]

Just commenting for the algorithm. You make good content & deserve the views bro.

[@Nellooo]

I appreciate that!

[@OldQueer]

Engaging with your comment for the algorithm too.

[@Cosmik60]

​@@OldQueer Engaging with your reply, For the algorithm of course.

[@OldQueer]

@@Cosmik60 thank you for your kind engagement. Here is some more engagement since I'm feeling generous.

[@3emad.305]

The conclusion was something else wtf

[@bluebird_979]

Yeah quite a plot twist after all that to say hes a fan haha

[@MrPMAntunes]

Nah, the bruv's was a major tosser - in the end you talk like he was just an emotional bloke that lost his marbles everytime anyone critized him, like he wasn't starting fires all over the place.

[@TheXentios]

The funny part of this is this. I played Fez on PC, 10 years ago. I have never heard anything about these dramas to this day. Phil was getting angry for things that silent majority does not even know or care.

[@meaninglez100]

I was kinda hoping for a full analysis of the guy, but I got a lot more of an apologist reading for his blatantly bad behavior. I liked Fez. I find him an interesting figure and frankly want to know more about him and his views on game design in general. I don't need to have his video clips and tweets reflected back at me in a softer lens. I know the man lacks any social grace and can't handle stressful situations well. That's why he's in his position in the first place. Making excuses for it doesn't really change that, or open opportunities for him to come back and do it all right next time. The only way for that to be an option is if he's able to drop those traits that make him so contentious. No blunt rude responses, no showboating, no perfectionist idealism, because that's only been a magnet for negative attention, and evidently, he can't handle that.

[@gingerwhale871]

Soon this story will be made into a Drama starring Joaquin Phoenix and go on to win an Oscar. Looking forward to what fish will tweet then!

[@Glenningway]

Phil just needs to anonymize himself and try a release. Let go of the ego and forget the wrath of social media. Rebrand into something else.

[@lmno567]

He won't. He is too afraid of failure.

[@MirageUchiha]

_"I'm looking for the programmer. Don't interfere."_ Cookie for whoever understood that reference.

[@Phoenix9q]

Gamergate not about any of that. It was about critics giving preferential scores because of sexual favors, bribes and gifts. Please go revise that part.

[@doctorgrubious7725]

Isn’t that what “ethics in journalism” meant? They want that shit to stop

[@drinkyourtea]

The problem is he made literally one successful game then acted like he was suddenly god he had a really over inflated sense of self like if he was an industry veteran who made hit after hit after hit I could somewhat understand but after 1 game? like come on man.