Phil Fish Was Never Cut Out for the Gaming Industry

You can't really go on any given video game website without hearing the name Phil Fish. That's right everyone, I'm going there. For today I will be tackling one of the most outspoken and downright despicable figures to ever show up in the gaming industry. To be honest, I have been quietly seething with much anticipated fury to be able to finally write out my impression of Phil Fish. With all that's going on with gaming media and his latest comments regarding Zoe Quinn, I think now is as good a time as any to unleash this built up ire that I have. I know that there are fans of Phil Fish out there who feel that he is misunderstood by the larger percentage of gamers. I hate to tell you supporters of Phil Fish this, but the guy was never going to make it in this industry for two reasons: one reason being his ego and the second reason being his negative treatment of gamers.

One of the keys of success to flourish in any business is to know your market. You have to manage, publish, produce, advertise, and study everything you possibly can so that you have a secure future. Having a keen eye of all of this will better yourself and give you valuable knowledge. Hence, you will develop the right mindset and a sense of professionalism. Phil Fish lacks all of that. He went into this industry with the wrong mentality and attitude. His ultimate failures come from his harsh words and aggressive attacks. The number of ridiculous outbursts he had on Twitter hindered him even more.

Among the many outlandish quotes that show Phil's true colors, there are a notable few that I will post here that reveal why Phil Fish was never going to make it in gaming. If you are an aspiring video game developer, take notes on this. Phil Fish is the perfect example of what NOT to do and say if you want to succeed in business. Do not take this with a grain of salt because there is truth to be had here.

"People telling me they’re going to pirate my game because they don't like me. Gamers are the worst f***ing people."

This is the biggest mistake you can ever make. Business Management 101: You do not insult your consumer base. This is a surefire way of killing your career before it manages to get up on its own two feet. Phil Fish succeeded in not only isolating every gamer out there, but also personally insulting every gamer by using vulgar language and comparing us all to pirates.

I always advise people to never generalize when describing a type of person because the way you word sentences could lead to problems. This particular quote was Phil Fish getting upset over some gamers saying that they are going to pirate his game. Aside from trolls looking to antagonize him, there was already a lot of gamers who had a bad impression of Phil Fish because of the things he would say. No one wants to support someone who is being a pretentious egomaniac. So what happened? They antagonized Phil Fish and he responded with a middle finger to everyone. That wasn't exactly a professional or mature thing to do.

In response to Japanese developer Makoto Goto after being asked what he thought about modern Japanese gaming: "They suck. I'm sorry, but you guys need to get with the times and make better interfaces and like update your technology. We're totally kicking your ass. Back then you guys were king of the world, but your time has passed".

Here is my translation: "From one professional to another, your work is a blight on this industry and you need to live in the present. Us developers in the West are owning the market and have taken your throne". Good job insulting your peers there, Philly. You only managed to mock the one country whose people contributed so much to video games long before you started your one game. This is the one quote that landed Phil Fish on many a gamers' bad side. Not only was his answer scathing and left with little to no emotion or thought, but it wasn't even offering any form of constructive information about why he thinks modern Japanese games aren't good. He doesn't even provide examples of why he thinks this.

Things got worse after his insincere statement as (once again), Fish took to Twitter to defend his position. "I'm sorry Japanese guy! I was a bit rough, but your country’s games are f***ing terrible nowadays”. Cue me doing an epic facepalm. Really, Phil Fish? That's the equivalent of someone apologizing to their friend for insulting their fashion sense, but follow it up with reiterating that they still think their friend dresses tacky. Phil Fish was completely insensitive and racially provoking here.

http://www.dailymotion.com/...

How about this wonderful display of smugness? "I just won the grand prize at IGF tonight. Suck my d***. Choke on it".

Charming. This was directed at people who generally responded to Fish's controversial tweets. Even though a good number of tweets were there to insult Phil Fish (for negative tweets he made, too, mind you), he didn't take the high road and instead resorted to his usual aggressive, vulgar answers. He never once attempted to show any humility with this. You cannot build a future for yourself by telling your critics to "choke on it".

Here's something else you don't post when your game is made available on another platform. In this case, it was PC: "$9 for a game like FEZ is a STEAL. I should be charging you $90 you f***ing ingrates".

He just keeps up with that glowing charisma, huh? For the record, this is what led to many people saying they would pirate FEZ instead. If you want to expand your horizons into other avenues of getting your business to more people, you don't tell these potential customers that you would charge them more if you could and then proceed to insult them.

The following are the quotes that got me to writing this piece: "All of you people attacking Zoe are cowards. Attacking a woman the easiest way you can. Despicable cowards, all of you". "All you're doing is making her more visible, and giving her message more reach". "And revealing yourselves as the subhuman little s**** that you are".

So desperate is he to jump into a conversation he had no part in to begin with. Those of us who are involved with or support GamerGate have the goal of exposing and helping to purge this industry of the very real corruption going on (particularly in gaming media). The scandal involving Zoe Quinn was just the one thing that triggered this ongoing battle between gamers and self-proclaimed journalists. We began at the very tip of the iceberg and slowly traveled down into the monstrous bulk of it all with emails and screencapped images revealing a lot of information that these journalists did not want to get out.

The question now, Phil, is what's your stake in this? To make some sort of comeback? Or are you just itching to throw another temper tantrum on Twitter? Whatever the case, you are not welcome here. You have nothing to go on to attack gamers anymore. You already took your ball and went home. Fighting someone else's battles against a movement is not going to make you relevant again. Five years from now, no one will remember anything you said here. Just go back into your cave and stay there.

Phil Fish is nothing short of a pretentious, arrogant, immature, angry little man. This is something that Phil Fish has presented throughout his entire short-lived career. I'm sure the quotes that I shared are evident of this. They also reveal that he was never going to make it in this industry. He set out on his own path to create FEZ. He was featured in a documentary. FEZ received critical praise and was a success. None of that changed how people viewed him because of his attitude and comments. No matter how great your work is, you cannot succeed by being an antagonizing jerk. Phil Fish is responsible for his own demise.

[TekoIie]

I think it really comes down to one simple fact. Phil didn't pick up how being respectful, humble and willing to talk to gamers/consumers as an equal can be hugely beneficial to your sales in this industry.

I'm not sure what his reasoning at any point was to be so abrasive, but it's hard to not eventually come to the conclusion that hes just another successful dick who's wondering why people don't worship the ground he walks.

If he had been more aware of where he was placing himself in the eyes of gamers I think things would have turned out better for him.

[HammadTheBeast]

It's pretty funny how arrogant he is when he really is banking off of only one successful game, which is Fez.

[uth11]

Maybe he could be a game designer, but he definately should not be his companies 'community relations' person.

[rambi80]

There are a lot of people in gaming who can benefit from a PR manager or a "twitter intervention"

He is definitely one of them. I hope he gets some help or anger management therapy because i do like Fez and i would like to see him continue his career.

Right now though, i cant stand him. As a human being, he's still in "alpha" stage of development

[garrettbobbyferguson]

Meh. Indies are a dime a dozen. Plenty out there to replace him.

[lex-1020]

I watched Indiegame the movie, a documentary I cannot highly enough encourage you to avoid, and this is the impression I got from him. "Oh whoa is me people are mean to me because I took to long to make a game."

I adamantly refuse to buy or play anything Phil Fish makes or will make. I will be happy when Phil Fish actually leaves the gaming industry like he keeps saying he's going to.

[e-p-ayeaH]

Yeah but that movie also included some other great indie developers as well with likable personalities.

[lex-1020]

It included 1 person I liked, the developer of Braid, whom I don't remember. Everyone else (Meatboy, and Phil Fish) just complained the whole time about how hard their life is and how hard it was for them to make a game.

[porkChop]

Phil is gone. Can we please stop talking about him? He got a hell of a lot more attention than he ever deserved. Phil is an asshole and he constantly belittles and tramples all over his fans. Please, stop mentioning his name and just forget about him.

[Picnic]

HonestDragon's viewpoint, like a lot of tabloid journalism, is basically a character assassination. If Mr Fish's job is making games, everything else is secondary. His personality is only the business who choose to care about that. Do you play terrible games made by people with superb personalities? I don't tend to try to do that.

It's clear from the content of the article that HonestDragon holds Fez in affection so you're angry that many people seem to have got insulted after spending (or not spending) their money.

I think that the crux is that you hold Fez in far more importance that I do. So you've blown up a story out of that, as if you're picking on a household name celebrity.
But he's no Jack Nicholson.

Just play loads of games. Don't get fixated on just the one name or what they say. The people who care will do what they want. The people who don't care will do what they want.

If your whole point is that why are people propping up someone who made an only OK game, I'd be with you. But it's you who's doing the propping up by making a big deal of this particular person. You still have stars in your head as to how great Fez was. You're just promoting Fez. Anyone in the industry who cared will already have their views. Anyone outside basing buying decisions on someone who is primarily attacking pirates? They're not as pure as snow to get so concerned about pirates' hurt feelings are they?

[Brucis]

For it to be character assassination the person needs to A) be malicious, B) be unjustified, and C) his target's reputation/credibility must be considered good. He also didn't tell half-truths, manipulate facts, or outright lie.

[ginganinja]

Well, considering none of the accusations aimed at Phil Fish were actually concerned with his ability to make games, I'd suggest B.
Someone might argue he needs either PR training or someone to sort that for him, but he's proven he can make games people like.
I wonder if someone like Itagaki or Kamiya would also receive such a glowing tribute for being similarly offish with gamers or is this rant inspired by his stance on a certain topic.

I especially love this bit;
"So desperate is he to jump into a conversation he had no part in to begin with"

[HonestDragon]

"For it to be character assassination the person needs to A) be malicious, B) be unjustified, and C) his target's reputation/credibility must be considered good."

Thanks for understanding the blog. This piece didn't come from malice, but just my opinion on Phil Fish destroying his own career.

"He also didn't tell half-truths, manipulate facts, or outright lie."

Thank you, Brucis.

[HonestDragon]

"HonestDragon's viewpoint, like a lot of tabloid journalism, is basically a character assassination."

Okay, for starters, I did not target Phil Fish to do any harm to his character. He destroyed his own image by himself. I am merely showing those who are interested why I think he wasn't going to make it in gaming because of his attitude and lack of professionalism.

And to akin this blog as "tabloid journalism" is just insulting. I did not fabricate anything (like you would see in tabloid journalism about politicians and celebrities) in this piece. I didn't make any outlandish claims on the guy. Everything I quoted was direct from Phil Fish's own mouth.

"If Mr Fish's job is making games, everything else is secondary. His personality is only the business who choose to care about that."

Um, no it's not. This is the internet age where everything you say can never be taken back. Being the lead or boss of something has serious consequences if you say the wrong thing. If you are the face of your company/project/team, then you will be under the spotlight. If you cannot bridge the gap between your product/business and your consumers in a professional and mature manner, then you will fail. It's all about having good PR when being that one guy who can convince an audience that what he/she is selling is worth their time.

"It's clear from the content of the article that HonestDragon holds Fez in affection so you're angry that many people seem to have got insulted after spending (or not spending) their money."

Quite the contrary, I do not hold FEZ up to any standards. I haven't played the game at all. Also, I'm not angry about anything. My reaction on Phil's quotes are that of someone who cannot believe that someone is that blind and stupid so as to think that he is not responsible for negative backlash he gets because it's his own fault. I have no idea where you're getting this idea that I was some FEZ fan who got insulted by Phil Fish after purchasing his game.

"I think that the crux is that you hold Fez in far more importance that I do. So you've blown up a story out of that, as if you're picking on a household name celebrity."

Again, I don't hold FEZ to any kind of importance. I will agree that it is an imaginative game that got a lot of praise, but I do not have a personal opinion on it. Also, I'm not picking on Phil Fish. He is not being bullied here.

"But it's you who's doing the propping up by making a big deal of this particular person. You still have stars in your head as to how great Fez was. You're just promoting Fez."

FEZ is already known throughout the entire industry. Whatever I say will not have any impact on its sales or promotional material. I'm just a random person online sharing his opinion. And again, I haven't played it. I'm not critiquing the game or hating on it. This is a piece about Phil Fish and his lack of professionalism and immaturity.

I think you got completely lost somewhere when reading this. If I were a blatant fan of FEZ who had buyer's remorse after hearing all of the negative things Phil Fish said, I'd like to know exactly where you think I reveal that in this piece. Is it the last paragraph?

[DJ]

How you carry yourself with friends and in your profession is extremely important. Phil is a loner because he never learned this basic skill. His personality overshadows the one big game he made, and will overshadow his future projects until he grows up.

[MadLad]

Of course he wasn't.
He's too much a combination of thin-skinned, and eccentric, egotistical twat.
That's a bad combination in general. More so when you consider how volatile gamers can be. At least the vocal ones found on the internet.

[CorndogBurglar]

"And to akin this blog as "tabloid journalism" is just insulting. I did not fabricate anything (like you would see in tabloid journalism about politicians and celebrities) in this piece. I didn't make any outlandish claims on the guy. Everything I quoted was direct from Phil Fish's own mouth"

Except for the part you edited out where you said, "Phil Fish is Batboy. :)

[e-p-ayeaH]

FEZ is pretty cool game but this developer just went nuts for some reason.

[Batnut00]

Hm, I never played FEZ and didn't know much about Phil Fish, only that he had temperamental issues on Twitter and raged against gamers at times but reading your article, I can whole-heartedly agree that he was not cut out for this industry. Now for the real reason as to why I'm here, I wanted to ask Dragon as a Marvel fan, what did you think of that Age of Ultron trailer? I personally thought it was great and am hoping the movie can outdo The Avengers[which I also loved] in every way.

[HonestDragon]

And now you know more about Phil Fish, lol. Now, as for your question regarding the Avengers:

Dude, that trailer was so freaking sweet! I am pumped for Age of Ultron! I can tell that James Spader is going to own that role as Ultron. Him talking about not being held back or being a puppet was amazing. I hope this will be a movie I can watch repeatedly and not get tired of it (like the first Avengers movie).

After seeing the trailer, I have a lot of questions, but I know they will be answered once I see the movie. In particular, I want to know how that fight between Hulk and Iron Man even starts. But Age of Ultron looks great.

[Juste_Belmont]

Phil Fish is the reason that I never even downloaded the demo for Fez and never will.

[fitfox]

I watched the Film indie game, he seemed like a cool dude, read some of his tweets from twitter. What an asshole.