Fez being co-published by Trapdoor

Before jumping around Villageville with Gomez in Polytron's Fez at PAX East, we couldn't help but notice a bright logo for relatively unknown developer Trapdoor. This might not be so strange if it weren't for the fact that Trapdoor itself isn't a game publisher -- and its own XBLA/PSN/Steam game Warp is being published with EA Partners.

When asked about the surprise splash screen, Trapdoor founder Ken Schachter explained it by saying, "We should be issuing a press release this week, but the gist of it is that we're going to be announcing that we're co-publishing Fez."

That said, given Trapdoor's ability to co-publish Fez, we wondered why the studio isn't publishing its own game, Warp. "We met with a bunch of publishers, and we weighed a bunch of options, but at the end of the day we were really impressed with the team at EA, and with what they had to bring to the table," Schachter told us. He further explained, "Basically, with regards to EA Partners, they've been really great about letting us be and focus on the creative part. And really just work on our game, and retain ownership of our IP. And they have a world class business, marketing, and PR team. And that's really the best of both worlds."

As previously announced, Warp is expected to launch this summer, while Fez should arrive at some point later this year.