Report: Ori maker Moon Studios "oppressive workplace"

pcgamesinsider.biz:

The developer of the Ori series, Moon Studios, has been described as an "oppressive" place to work.

That's according to reporting from VentureBeat, which has spoken to numerous former members of staff at the company who describe it as having a toxic working culture. At the centre of this story are studio founders Thomas Mahler (pictured) and Gennadiy Korol, who are painted as bullies who would regularly demean their staff.

Mahler, in particular, is said to publicly criticise people for their work if it was not to his standards, even going so far as to describe it as the product of "failed abortions." The duo would often also publicly tear down the previous work of members of staff who joined the company.

"I remember there's one meeting where they argued for a full hour," one former member of staff said.

"It was a particular call to get to the bottom of some problems. The whole team was there, just listening. And then eventually, everyone was like, we're tired and you're wasting our time. We are leaving. Nothing got accomplished. It affected everybody's morale."

There are also allegations of offensive jokes, racist, sexist, homophobic and ableist comments, as well as Mahler and Korol often pressuring staff to work long hours, often asking why developers weren't working over the weekend.

In response, Mahler and Korol wrote the following statement:

“We don’t believe the experiences suggested by your questions are representative of the more than 80 Moon Studios team members who are thriving and doing great work every day — nor do we believe they are representative of the experiences of former members of our team. In fact, we are very proud of our history of making people happy, advancing their careers, and contributing to