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Minecraft XBLA ruffles developer feathers

Fez and FortressCraft devs speak out over free updates and DDoS attack

The XBLA version of Mojang's Minecraft may have been profitable after just an hour on sale, but its release and success have provoked reactions from both Fez developer Polytron and FortressCraft's Adam Sawkins.

FortressCraft.com was hit by DDoS attack, rendering it useless, the same day as Minecraft XBLA launched.

"Aaaand, the FortressCraft website's being DDOSd. F*** you and your 'community,'" Sawkins tweeted at Markus 'Notch' Persson. He later explained the situation to Eurogamer.

"We know who it was, but sadly we didn't get a note in the post saying why. We've sailed over our cap for the month so far, and are going through the process of talking to the police about it."

Polytron also took to Twitter to express its displeasure at apparent "preferential treatment" given to Minecraft over other XBLA games in the form of free updates and sales stats.

On discovering the sales information had come from leader boards, Polytron backed down a little, and tweeted "Minecraft did not get preferential treatment regarding sale stats. Just for the free updates!"

It contacted Persson directly about the free updates "which is something every other developer on the platform is told is simply not an option."

"We had to fight for that, and we got a limited number of them. Not sure why they don't like it," responded Persson.

The Polytron Twitter account recently added a caveat about the dispute.

"Attention journalists: THIS IS NOT A SCANDAL."

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Rachel Weber avatar

Rachel Weber

Senior Editor

Rachel Weber has been with GamesIndustry since 2011 and specialises in news-writing and investigative journalism. She has more than five years of consumer experience, having previously worked for Future Publishing in the UK.

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