Bleszinski's open letter asks Phil Fish to return to gaming

Former Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski has penned an open letter to Fez creator Phil Fish asking for his return to the games industry following a weekend of Twitter disputes and red-faces on both sides of the journo/developer divide.

If you want to catch up on what happened with Fish and the cancellation of Fez 2 you can play catch-up here. I suggest that you do before moving onward.

Now then...

Bleszinski has decided to chip in on his blog, calling on Fish's return because of his outspoken stance and lack of PR-approved responses.

He wrote, "You don’t owe a damned thing to any gaming journalist. We’ve seen the rise of many “Rush Limbaughs" in the gaming industry, people who do videos or podcasts digging a finger into an open wound that gets the gaming community going because, hits.

"You DO owe a great product to your community, something I hope you’ll resume doing some time in the near future. The industry needs people like you to speak with their hearts before their brains because I’m tired of hearing the PR approved appropriate response.

"I’m tired of games that feel like they’ve been developed by focus groups or clueless executives going “Hey that Call of Duty is big, we need one of those!"

"Besides, at the end of the day, that cycle of community feedback and crafting that big fireball is entirely too addictive. Come back, Phil. We miss you already. Maybe I’ll be right behind you, returning with Adamantium skin."

At the risk of being hauled over coals I have to say I'm not a fan of PR-orchestrated responses either and that free-speakers are ultimately much more refreshing, honest and insightful. We need more of them and this is NOT a comment on whether Fish of Bleszinski are right or not, but it's just that I can't stand it when developers talk to me from a memorised script full of buzz-words written by other people. It's f**king tedious.

Your thoughts now please?

Thanks Kotaku.