Moon Studios, the developer behind Ori and the Blind Forest and its sequel, which was supposed to be an “oppressive” place to work had numerous problems with rudeness, verbal abuse, and poor organization. This is according to a new report by Gamebeatreports that Xbox is no longer working with the studio following what it called a “difficult relationship”.
The lengthy report details a range of allegations, most of which centered on the studio’s founders, Thomas Mahler and Gennadiy Korol. These include reports of “constant controversies,” a rough-and-tumble culture in which developers are expected to be available all hours and on weekends, and a flurry of banter. on racism, sexism and anti-semiology.
“It’s definitely a claustrophobic workplace. But it’s hard to pin down one thing because, individually, all of these incidents, if they happened once, you’d think they were minor.” one developer said. “When you’re solving that problem for [multiple] years, you’ll see people’s mental health decline. I can say that for myself, personally, I was completely messed up after we finished. I was never depressed until that moment. I lost my passion for my work because they took it away from me. “
Another developer is quoted as saying: “Are both founders belligerent? Yes. In my opinion. Is it limited to those two? Yes. Not professional by the hour? Yes. Harassment ? Yes.”
The full report paints a picture of a studio with a “perfectionist” culture that rarely provides positive feedback and leaves developers exhausted. The story also includes bounty and other issues. The developers compared the problems at Moon Studio to those of Bungie and Activision Blizzardhave attracted headlines with their own problems.
The original Moon Studios succeeded with Ori and the Blind Forest 2015with Ori and the Will of the Wisps then in 2020. Both games are stunning Metroidvanias and are some of the rare bright spots in the Xbox One exclusive lineup.
But while Moon Studios has strong links to Xbox, it is said to have a strained relationship with the platform owner, full of missed deadlines, conflicts over funding amounts and the scope of changes. continuity. Moon Studios’ next project is said to be an action role-playing game that the studio is developing in partnership with Private Division.
IGN has reached out to Microsoft for comment and will update this story with their response. Mahler and Korol responded to the allegations in a lengthy statement on Gamesbeat:
“We don’t believe that the experiences your question suggests are representative of the more than 80 members of the Moon Studios team that are growing and working wonderfully every day – nor do we believe they are representative of the experience of former members of our team In fact, we take great pride in our history of making people happy, advancing their careers and contributing to their financial success.
We built Moon Studios with a simple premise. First, we wanted to create a distributed studio that wasn’t limited by geography that would allow us to attract top talent from around the world. Second, we want to foster a vibrant culture where our team thrives and delivers the best work in our industry. And finally, from day one, we started sharing the profits and rewards of our efforts with the whole team. We believe we have succeeded.
What makes our team so strong is our cultural and global diversity – we have team members working from over 40 different countries across four continents – and a The flat studio structure allows everyone to speak honestly and directly as well as challenge and motivate each other to do our best work. We aim to create a different kind of studio – one that encourages creativity, open communication, collaboration and performance.
The result is two award-winning games – with more in the works – and a team of professionals who enjoy working together, excelling and breaking new ground in our industry. share the financial success of Moon Studios. If we are sometimes brutally forthright in our criticisms and challenges, we are also honest and vocal in praise. We are incredibly proud of all that we have built and achieved together.
Finally, we appreciate the irony that we – an Austrian and an Israeli Jew – have started this cross-cultural business. We consider each other like brothers. And, like brothers, we sometimes argue and often tease each other. We made fun of ourselves about our differences in backgrounds – and there may have been times when our teasing each other was insensitive and could make others feel uncomfortable.
Moon Studios has prospered for 12 years. We have grown and learned a lot throughout the years. We have been privileged to work with so many wonderful and incredibly talented people. We are truly grateful and proud of our team – who are here today as well as those who spent time at Moon and have since moved on to other business ventures – and we I’m glad I made a positive difference in their lives. We are not perfect, but we care deeply about our talents and are constantly working to improve. If we’ve ever made someone feel bad or let someone down – we’re sorry about that and we’ll always try to do better. “
The Moon Studios report is part of an ongoing reckoning with the game industry’s abusive work culture. On the same day Gamesbeat released its report, the Youtube channel investigated People make games released a new video focusing on the issue of abuse in three major independent studios. The evolution of games from a hobby to a multi-billion dollar global industry has posed problems of crudeness and abuse that have plagued game development for many years. this year.
Outside of Moon Studios, Xbox has to deal with issues at Activision Blizzard, which it bought recently. For more information, see timeline outlining issues at Activision Blizzardhappenning.
Kat Bailey is Senior News Editor at IGN
