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Ori Developer's Culture Reportedly 'Oppressive,' No Longer Working With Xbox (ign)

developers were expected to be available at all hours and on weekends
I would have left the place just for this... well, usually this kind of thing becomes apparent early in the interview process.... the founders/owners will not leave their business at this stage. So you either accept it, try to change things (no guarantee it will work) or you move on.

a steady stream of racist, sexist, and anti-semitic banter
I love banter!

That being said, there is a level of it that is inappropriate in a work environment, if nothing else people should be professional around colleagues who are there to work.
 
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Amiga

Member
So because this happens and it’s real life everyone should accept that, nod their heads and be cool with it? I’m glad people don’t think like you do.
Yes, be cool like water that flows past hurdles instead of slumping still like a rock only delaying ones self. just move on past unnecessary setbacks. life always has ups and downs. enjoy the good times and move beyond the bad to the next hopefully good day.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
Gotta fucking laugh if true. The guy is a woke nob head posting and pandering to the Reeee cult all the time and low and behold he himself is a cunt. It’s a tale as old as time; the lady doth protest too much.

The ‘being available all hours’ is hilarious as they’ve always bragged about their ‘flexible’ working policy.

Ori 1&2 are amazing games and I always separate the art from the artist and I’ll buy their next game day one.

But this explains why Xbox didn’t take them up on their offer to make a Banjo game, sadly.

Reading it through though it could just be one or two moaning snowflakes crying about having to work hard.

We view each other as brothers. And, like brothers, we sometimes argue and frequently tease each other. We have made jokes at our own expense about the differences in our backgrounds — and there may have been times that our teasing of each other has come off as insensitive and may have made others feel uncomfortable.

Nothing wrong with that. Funny how they don’t mention MS in their response though which may lend credence to the ‘missed deadlines’ and constantly changing ‘financial requirements’.
 
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Banjo64

cumsessed
Lmao;

Mahler drew a giant penis over the top of Korol's face as he was starting a meeting.

moon-studios-2.jpg
 
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Cyberpunkd

Gold Member
My old job was toxic, because the management didn't give a crap about us.

Once management sees you as a replacement, they wouldn't get 2 shit about you.
They don’t give a shot about you, period, smart management is just being a bit nicer about it.
“We truly care about what you think John, your opinions are important while you crunch for the average salary. But hey, have some drinks from the fridge, it’s on us!”
 
Some corps who care little for their staff will expect them to work longer hours and more days if working from home. No doubt to some, the only day off they should be allowed is Christmas day.

All that said, The cruch is nothing new in gaming. It's been there almost from the start.
 

Fredrik

Member
Hmm maybe it was a good thing that Microsoft never acquired them.
The Ori IP is likely dead now though, bummer.
 
Some corps who care little for their staff will expect them to work longer hours and more days if working from home. No doubt to some, the only day off they should be allowed is Christmas day.

All that said, The cruch is nothing new in gaming. It's been there almost from the start.
OK but is that really the reason Moon Studio is not on good base with Microsoft anymore that surly can't be it
 

reksveks

Member
OK but is that really the reason Moon Studio is not on good base with Microsoft anymore that surly can't be it
Apparently according to Jez and Grubb, some of this behaviour got directed towards the Xbox team and so they decided to distance themselves from Moon Studios.

Whether you believe Jez and Grubb is a bit of a personal one.
 
OK but is that really the reason Moon Studio is not on good base with Microsoft anymore that surly can't be it
I don't know, do you? Something put off MS looking to fund their next game, though it could be down to missing deadlines. Many highlighted the joys of working from home and how more productive one can be, that doesn't seem to be the case for Moon.
Sad really, their games were exceptional and the hours spent developing on the games showed

What I don't get is why some people think working long hours is a new thing in the video game industry? I remember reading the Tomb Raider staff at CORE working 17 hours a day. Japanese staff sleeping at their desks and where the likes of SEGA, Konami had showers and beds at the Office , so the staff didn't even go home at crunch
 

Goalus

Member
Whaaatttt?! Good guy Microsoft doesn't REALLY want to unite all gamers like they claimed and blocking the game from other platforms??
I think MS are very keen to launch xCloud on Playstation so that Sony users can enjoy Ori too. But it seems that Sony are actively preventing it from happening because they are still living in their small world from the mid-nineties and are busy figuring out what an online service is.
 

sinnergy

Member
I think MS are very keen to launch xCloud on Playstation so that Sony users can enjoy Ori too. But it seems that Sony are actively preventing it from happening because they are still living in their small world from the mid-nineties and are busy figuring out what an online service is.
Same with Nintendo .. Mariokart DLC was a total hassle here ..
 

Fredrik

Member
I don't know, do you? Something put off MS looking to fund their next game, though it could be down to missing deadlines. Many highlighted the joys of working from home and how more productive one can be, that doesn't seem to be the case for Moon.
Sad really, their games were exceptional and the hours spent developing on the games showed
MS was clearly courting them for awhile but Mahler talked about this mysterious action RPG that would be a multiplat years ago, I don’t think anything particular happened between Moon and MS there, I just don’t think MS was interested in funding a multiplat.
But Moon no longer working with Xbox essentially means the Ori IP is dead. I was hoping they had a second team doing pre-production work on Ori 3.
 

Three

Member
Well there will be agreed deadlines which could lead to crunch and pressure. But honestly, I'd like someone to describe a utopia where that doesn't exist in any industry.

So it's hardly the fault of Xbox in that sense, money is involved, deadlines need to be agreed. It's the studio's responsibility to manage things appropriately and ensure the working environment/culture is as positive as possible even despite long hours and pressure - it sounds like they've failed in that sense.



See above, this is the real world. What do you expect Xbox to do? Tell them there are no deadlines, they can take whatever amounts of money they want and they can generally do what they want?
I would agree but there is also mention of constantly changing scope. Who was changing the scope resulting in time and budget deficit? Product management often does this, not the developer.

"a steady stream of racist, sexist, and anti-semitic banter"

this bit though has nothing to do with the crunch culture and just sounds shitty.
 
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Here at Moon Studios we expect employees to be flexible about when we want them to work.
My personal experience with job hunting: Avoid any job listing that says "flexible hours" for exactly this sort of reason. The ones that say "flexible hours" are the most likely to make you close one shift at 2 in the morning and then come back and open a shift at 6AM the next day.
 

nush

Gold Member
My personal experience with job hunting: Avoid any job listing that says "flexible hours" for exactly this sort of reason. The ones that say "flexible hours" are the most likely to make you close one shift at 2 in the morning and then come back and open a shift at 6AM the next day.

"Occassionally due to business operations you may be required to sometimes work overtime during peak periods" - We're understaffed and you'll be working late every day because it's cheaper than hiring enough people to do the job.
 

S0ULZB0URNE

Member
@thomasmahler

Update: Reading more into it, this "news" is trying to imply that Microsoft just cut ties with Moon Studios and they just decided to go third party after Microsoft seemingly abandoned them due to this outrage. Pretty weird that people who complain about clickbait titles in other threads went along with this story.


We already knew this for almost 2 years.
Right... this new news explains it.
 

Swift_Star

Banned
Yes, be cool like water that flows past hurdles instead of slumping still like a rock only delaying ones self. just move on past unnecessary setbacks. life always has ups and downs. enjoy the good times and move beyond the bad to the next hopefully good day.
Again, good thst most people don’t think like you. Imagine being this passive and accepting abuse and other stuff like that? Geez.
 

Sentenza

Member
One of the founders is an Israeli Jewish person accused of a antisemitic behaviour?

Excuse Me Reaction GIF by Mashable
Well, you guys should know how it goes at this point. An example is even quoted in the article.
The two owners are in confidence enough to exchange some "racially insensitive" joke about Jews (i.e. his fairly-dumb-but-in-the-end-harmless joke about "secret plans to kill the jews - note: in context, he meant precisely his business partner/co-owner- by overworking them") and some employee looking at the sideline start seething that their work environment is "literally worse than Nazi Germany" or something.

I'd say it's another nothing-burger, but we live in the Twitter era where that alone can kill your entire career and mark you as the most awful person who ever lived.
 
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kingfey

Banned
i had a PS4 and all the others PS...no I'll not buy the PS5 unless they make a pro version better engineered
The ps5 is great. The controller is really nice. Its very quite, despite being closer to my ears, without headphones.

Loading time is faster too. And quality is crispy.
 

Goalus

Member
Well, you guys should know how it goes at this point. An example is even quoted in the article.
The two owners are in confidence enough to exchange some "racially insensitive" joke about Jews (i.e. his fairly-dumb-but-in-the-end-harmless joke about "secret plans to kill the jews - note: in context, he meant precisely his business partner/co-owner- by overworking them") and some employee looking at the sideline start seething that their work environment is "literally worse than Nazi Germany" or something.

I'd say it's another nothing-burger, but we live in the Twitter era where that alone can kill your entire career and mark you as the most awful person who ever lived.
If he can make this kind of joke towards his co-founder with both of them laughing, it speaks volumes about how healthy and positive their work environment is. As usual, the only toxic ones seem to be the they/them people.
 
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Hezekiah

Banned
Thought you were a multiplatform gamer?

There games have been available on PC & Xbox for years.

Why would you wait for an inferior PS5 version rather than playing it on PC?
My PS5 has more GPU power than my PC (and the Series X by all accounts 😁) until I get my new GPU - I mean I don't if you've been living in a cave, but graphics cards have been and continue to be really expensive.

Are you planning to follow me around the forum btw? Go and ask mummy and daddy if you're allowed to play on your Xbox you sad little weirdo.
 
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Shubh_C63

Member
I am wondering with all these expose' on work culture in video game companies, are these issues not present in other industries ?

Used to work in logistic industry till last year and even though I didn't mind being present for work all the time, others easily and justly could translate it to f*ked up.
Verbal abuse is obviously not ok but I have heard stories about people in Sales much worse than this.

Is this only for video game industry as people tends to be more passionate toward work there, and gets abused in the process of hard work ?
 

MonarchJT

Banned
Can you explain what better engineered means?

All your posts seem to be very unfounded and warriorish.
warrish? how? Better engineered in a decidedly smaller / quieter / lower power consumption / more hw feature / more powerful (at least specs wise) at the same price. I expect Cerny to do better with the pro
If you don't take mine as a personal attack and distance yourself from the brands you will see that they have nothing of warrish
To me it just meant that. however subject closed..you asked i answered
 
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Hestar69

Member
The ps5 is great. The controller is really nice. Its very quite, despite being closer to my ears, without headphones.

Loading time is faster too. And quality is crispy.
I'm glad to hear the ps5 is quiet..the reason I never boot up my ps4 pro is because it really is "loud like an airplane" and I'm a clean freak and keep stuff clean.I've opened it up and its pretty clean but I don't wanna do teh thermal paste replacement because I am a moron and will fuck it up lol.

OT:I hope we still get a third Ori game,loved the first two.
 

MOTM

Banned
My PS5 has more GPU power than my PC (and the Series X by all accounts 😁) until I get my new GPU - I mean I don't if you've been living in a cave, but graphics cards have been and continue to be really expensive.

Are you planning to follow me around the forum btw? Go and ask mummy and daddy if you're allowed to play on your Xbox you sad little weirdo.
Ohh so you have a shit PC 😂

All this talk about having a beefy PC to find out it’s a Compaq desktop haha. Can’t say I’m even slightly surprised though

I don’t follow you around, your posts just stand out as particularly dumb 🤷‍♂️
 

Lognor

Banned
I didn't realize Microsoft owned the Ori IP. Well that's some good news then. I don't know if Microsoft has a dev that could make a sequel on par with the first two games, but I hope they try. The Ori games are fantastic.
 

Hezekiah

Banned
Ohh so you have a shit PC 😂

All this talk about having a beefy PC to find out it’s a Compaq desktop haha. Can’t say I’m even slightly surprised though

I don’t follow you around, your posts just stand out as particularly dumb 🤷‍♂️
Only a complete moron would come to that conclusion. My monitor alone cost more than the Series X (or is it a Series S 😁) that your mum and dad bought you for your birthday 😅😅
MeOHsMt.jpg
AkaNEAK.jpg
 

Amiga

Member
Ok, man, you’re ok with being abused and harassed, most people aren’t.
You do you.
Mix of overaction + strawman + projection here. the trend of misrepresenting another persons opinions to excuse unjustified objection is a main cause communal unrest.

I'm a person who speaks from long experience. Have had many shoulders to cry on but lacked progress. Only with the Gods blessing and the self commitment to step forward did things change.

Life is full of pressure and unsavory people. The links of social media give the illusion of support and distract from the need to deal with the real world in the vicinity.
 
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