Despite its beautiful Ori games, Moon Studio is called an ‘oppressive’ place to work
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Gaming fans know Moon Studios for its amazing Ori games with beautiful art and emotional stories. But a number of current and former employees consider the Ori studio an oppressive place to work. That is according to GamesBeat’s interviews with Moon developers.
Ori and the Blind Forest debuted in 2015 under publisher Microsoft. It was profitable after a few weeks while earning an 88% rating on the review-aggregation platform Metacritic. Multiple publications also nominated it for various awards and accolades. Moon then went on to release the sequel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, in 2020 to even greater acclaim – including GamesBeat’s 2020 game of the year award. We love the Ori games.
But the studio’s behind-the-scenes atmosphere does not match the tranquility of its games. Based on interviews with current and former employees, many employees had problems with founders Thomas Mahler and Gennadiy Korol.
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.”
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