Moon Studios, Developer of the Ori Games, Accused of 'Oppressive' Workplace
Ori and the Will of the Wisps developer Moon Studios has come under fire over allegations of housing an oppressive place to work. Developers who have been part of both Ori and the WIll of the Wisps, as well as Ori and the Blind Forest, accuse the company of rampant sexism, racism, crunch culture, and a host of other issues.
Launched back in 2010 by Thomas Mahler and Gennadiy Korol, Moon Studios found success in the form of 2015's Ori and the Blind Forest. This was followed by Ori and the Will of the Wisps five years later. Now, as the studio works on its next release, Forsaken, it's facing a barrage of accusations from developers over how its oppressive culture is nurturing a highly problematic environment for its workforce. According to a lengthy report from Gamesbeat, much of these accusations are centered around the studio's founders.
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Following suit similar to Activision Blizzard's toxic culture issues, the list of allegations includes constant arguments, antisemitism, sexism, racism, bullying, and a crunch culture to name a few. Developers state that the company's public chats were never short of offensive and unprofessional remarks from Mahler and Korol ranging from inappropriate comments about women to Hitler jokes.
Even when it comes to game development matters, developers accuse that while the founders constantly pushed for quality, the team would find conflicting/unclear directions from the duo. This would often lead to crunch. Furthermore, positive feedback was seemingly a rarity from Mahler and Korol. «In Skype chats, they would say ‘you f*****g idiot’ and things like that on an hourly basis,» says one developer. Another developer is quoted saying,
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