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[Eddie-Griffin]

The head of Moon Studios has said its next game could “make or break” the company. Following 2015’s Ori and the Blind Forest and 2020’s Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Moon’s third game is an action RPG set to be published by Private Division. Posting on Twitter, Moon Studios CEO and game director Thomas Mahler said the studio had no plans to play it safe with the upcoming game.
“Our next project is going to be a make-or-break moment for Moon,” he wrote.

“Either we manage to revolutionize the ARPG genre or we’ll slowly fade away into the distance.

“While that should be scary, I LOVE the challenge! Diablo, PoE, etc.: We’re coming for you, may the best one win!”

Mahler also confirmed that the game will have a top-down camera perspective.

Moon was formed in 2010 by Mahler (a former cinematic artist at Blizzard Entertainment) and Gennadiy Korol (a former senior graphics engineer at Animation Lab).

“Developing the Ori series over the last decade has been a fantastic experience for our team, and we’re thrilled to now be aiming our sights even higher with a new action RPG,” the pair said in 2020 when it was announced that Private Division would be publishing the game.

“We attribute our success to the ‘iterative polish’ process we use at Moon Studios, and we’re continuing that style of development to create a new game that rises above anything we’ve created thus far.”

It looks like that if one failure could do that much damage, Moon Studios may not have as much safety financing as originally thought, and may not have made that much despite the perceived success of both Ori titles. Either that or they've put too many resources on this upcoming ARPG which has given them little flexibility on failure. or this is just PR to get attention.

Either way, I doubt the company would go under. Worse comes to worse Phil will likely scoop them for a bargain given their history, and Moon Studio games are perfectly suited for gamepass.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

I like how the FroDOS dude is like "Let me explain your current situation better than you just did."

 

[Reckheim]

It looks like that if one failure could do that much damage, Moon Studios may not have as much safety financing as originally thought, and may not have made that much despite the perceived success of both Ori titles. Either that or they've put too many resources on this upcoming ARPG which has given them little flexibility on failure. or this is just PR to get attention.

Either way, I doubt the company would go under. Worse comes to worse Phil will likely scoop them for a bargain given their history, and Moon Studio games are perfectly suited for gamepass.

Sounds like that's not happening. Its a lot harder to make games it seems when MS isn't lining your pockets with that sweet sweet gamepass money.

""

 

[Gaiff]

Looking forward to it. Ori and the Will of the Wisps is one of the best platformers in the last decade.

 

[Azelover]

Good spirits. I wish them the best of luck. They are a very talented studio. I bought and played through Ori, awesome game.

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

Sounds like that's not happening. Its a lot harder to make games it seems when MS isn't lining your pockets with that sweet sweet gamepass money.

""

What do you mean? They'll buy the studio and remove the leader, usually by paying him with a golden exit sign and then they put a new person in charge.

I doubt Microsoft is going to let a studio so in tune with the Gamepass strategy to sink.

 

[Kvally]

Bummer that they lack any confidence in their own team, talent and budgeting. Maybe it is time they hang it up if they can't handle it. This gives me less of an incentive to buy their game.

 

[Reckheim]

What do you mean? They'll buy the studio and remove the leader, usually by paying him with a golden exit sign and then they put a new person in charge.

I doubt Microsoft is going to let a studio so in tune with the Gamepass strategy to sink.

they have to be willing to sell first. Sounds like this guy is willing to burn it to the ground before that happens.

 

[Kvally]

Doesn't sounds like a good team at all.

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

So call it Final Fantasy.

 

[Fredrik]

Can’t wait to play their next game!
Loving the top-down view talk as well, it’s my favorite for 360 degree movement. Modern close up 3rd person cameras sucks imo, nice to hear they aren’t going for that.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Curious as to what fresh ideas they may bring to the table. Ori was a fantastic game, so we know the team is very talented.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Everything is just high school gossip now.

 

[Fbh]

Will be interesting to see how this turns out.
It's not really my genre but I loved Ori 1 and 2 so I'm definitely looking forward to what they do next.

 

[Warablo]

That's just game development these days. Risky business being on your own.

 

[Banjo64]

Doesn't sounds like a good team at all.

Couldn’t care less as long as the games are good.

 

[Kvally]

Couldn’t care less as long as the games are good.

Totally your choice, and fair enough. That itself doesn't bother me. What does bother me is his lack of confidence in the studio and the game they are working on. It almost sounds as if they are working paycheck to paycheck.

 

[Yoboman]

They remind me of Thatgamecompany 10 years ago. While producing very good games, they were simultaneously a bad place to work and also burning bridges with the publisher who helped them gain massive successes

They eventually unravelled and made themselves irrelevent

 

[Whitecrow]

Opressive honestly is kinda relative.
I could do 12 hours a day in something i have passion for.

A team of passionate people could do amazing things. But not everyone fits there.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Our next game is make or break, so lets ditch the genre we were successful at and received all kinds of praise for and try something else.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Doesn't sounds like a good team at all.

It is illuminating to see these allegations arose at a small company with all-remote practices — a private company that treasures its independence and its “anti-corporate” culture. Still, the casual racism, sexism, and bullying amounted to what one developer said was “death by a thousand cuts.”

Maybe all these quirky game studios should act more corporate. Put some effort into acting more professional. A lot of them seem so wishy washy no-holds barred.

Acting corporate doesn't mean slogging to work in a suit and tie being a yes-man. All it means is having a company have some decent policies on workplace communication, harassment, dress code, not saying anything stupid on social media or else it looks bad on the company etc.... And going by gaming companies, dress code isnt even a factor since they all seem to enjoy wearing sweat pants, flip flops and pink hair if they feel like it.

Just tidy up the attitudes and communication skills. Hell, if that doesn't work do last ditch stuff big companies do - online code of conduct tests and hiring consultants to facilitate meetings with the team to learn about issues and solve them together.

Its not that hard unless management or workers are really anti-social and avoid improving the corporate environment like the plague. In other words, they prefer chaos and winging it as an every man for himself vibe.

 

[poodaddy]

It almost sounds as if they are working paycheck to paycheck.

I absolutely agree that this is terrible budget management, but what's really unfortunate is that quite a lot of dev studios are run in this manner. Such is why the industry is so rife with closures. I don't really know why so many studios are barely hanging on from project to project, even after moderate successes, but I imagine budget management in game development must be a very challenging prospect.

 

[slade]

Hope they manage to deliver on the action part of the gameplay. I don't like the top down view but I also did complete Darksiders Genesis so it's not a complete dealbreaker.

 

[RafterXL]

Hope they manage to deliver on the action part of the gameplay. I don't like the top down view but I also did complete Darksiders Genesis so it's not a complete dealbreaker.

Genesis is isometric, not top down. If they're really doing top down and not just mixing up their terminology this game just went from day one to not at all for me. Bummer, because the Ori games are excellent.

 

[In Cold Blood]

What do you mean? They'll buy the studio and remove the leader, usually by paying him with a golden exit sign and then they put a new person in charge.

I doubt Microsoft is going to let a studio so in tune with the Gamepass strategy to sink.

Moon studio isn't your normal studio. It's ran pretty much by the one guy and they have a decentralised work from home type of work model. There isn't a studio pre se.
Some of the stuff you hear is that MS funded the entire project, and at the end of it the head of Moon wanted to have the game go to PS so that he could earn even more money and MS said No, we paid for the game. As a compromise they let him put it on the switch.

 

[DenchDeckard]

They could have had an amazing future with Microsoft but they proved themselves to be dickheads so hopefully they've had a bit of humble pie, changed and they can carry on making amazing games without the negativity.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Doesn't sounds like a good team at all.

It's crazy that one can read that piece and not think "Dear God that was awful journalism." It was just vague algorithmic buzzwords that appeals to the choir.

"Based on interviews with current and former employees, many employees..."

(Has anyone been a part of a workforce where 1 - 5% of employees don't complain about the boss? This could literally be 2 employees in a pool of 50+.)

"Still, the casual racism, sexism, and bullying amounted to what one developer said was “death by a thousand cuts.”

(3 buzzwords that mean nothing today.)

GamesBeat is just doing the Jason Shreier formula of vague activist crap that Resetera types eat up.

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

What's interesting is they call out games like Diablo, but they are going for YS/Zelda style gameplay instead of the better PC Isometric lineage.

Those YS/Zelda games don't usually sell much. Other than that 3D remake of Links Awakening backed by heavy marketing dollars on a handheld with no competition that's first party called the Switch.

If they are strapped for cash that seems like the opposite style of game to make.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

Every studio is on that knife edge. News at 11.

Loved the games, have no love nor hate for the studio head. Actions speak louder than words, time will tell. Reports of burning bridges and running a shite team aren't a good indicator and stack up eventually. Best to right the ship while you can.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

It's a real shame if they go down because Moon Studios are a legit good team of devs.

I've bought every version of the Ori games and the are outstanding titles.

 

[GHound]

It's crazy that one can read that piece and not think "Dear God that was awful journalism." It was just vague algorithmic buzzwords that appeals to the choir.

It's Dean Takahashi, acting retarded is the only thing he's skilled at.

"Acting" retarded.

 

[Tell’em Keb]

Studios come and studios go.

 

[GeekyDad]

...It looks like that if one failure could do that much damage, Moon Studios may not have as much safety financing as originally thought, and may not have made that much despite the perceived success of both Ori titles. ...

 

[ProtoByte]

Our next game is make or break, so lets ditch the genre we were successful at and received all kinds of praise for and try something else.

2D platformers aren't all that lucrative no matter how good they are, and Moon Studios' main audience didn't even buy their latest game. This situation puts into question just how sweet those Gamepass contracts are, but I digress.

Maybe doing another platformer in the same vein would be the answer, but it's not a short development cycle, which means it's not cheap. Moon Studios took 5 years on Will of The Wisps. That time and money could be spent on anything else, even if that something else takes a total of 6 or 7 years. It may as well be something with broader appeal.

 

[Freeman76]

That guy is an ass

 

[GymWolf]

Did the ori games sold that bad?

 

[Herbspiceguy]

First, they're making the next Legend of Zelda. Now they're coming after Diablo and PoE...
At least he's ambitious.

 

[Sentenza]

Well, I'm interested but I'm not to happy about how he's comparing the game to Diablo and POE. I thought it was supposed to be a Zelda-like?

 

[The Cockatrice]

If they were going after Zelda fans, making something similar, with amazing level design, then I would've been there day 1. Now theyre going for Diablo/POE? Day never. Dont care about that shit.

 

[Kvally]

Did the ori games sold that bad?

Sounds like they can’t save money nor budget properly.

 

[Arkangelus0]

Its Amazing how every studio who make awesome games sudenly is problematic and toxic, Its like working Hard and devilver Its terrible for this People, what a clowns.

 

[Tsaki]

What is even the point for the head of the studio to make a statement like that? Is it a plea to gamers: "Hey buy our next game or you won't have us for much longer"? Imagine being a dev at Moon and seeing this in your Twitter feed.

 

[Jigsaah]

It looks like that if one failure could do that much damage, Moon Studios may not have as much safety financing as originally thought, and may not have made that much despite the perceived success of both Ori titles. Either that or they've put too many resources on this upcoming ARPG which has given them little flexibility on failure. or this is just PR to get attention.

Either way, I doubt the company would go under. Worse comes to worse Phil will likely scoop them for a bargain given their history, and Moon Studio games are perfectly suited for gamepass.

Phil over there ringing his hands and lickin his lips.