Moon Studios GmbH
Company typePrivate
IndustryVideo games
Founded2010; 14 years ago (2010)
Founder
  • Thomas Mahler
  • Gennadiy Korol
Headquarters
Vienna
,
Austria
Key people
Thomas Mahler (CEO)
ProductsOri series
Number of employees
80+ (2020)
Websitemoongamestudios.com

Moon Studios GmbH is an Austrian video game developer founded in 2010.[1] They are best known for their 2015 title Ori and the Blind Forest, for which the studio was awarded the Best Debut award at the 2016 Game Developers Choice Awards.[2] In 2020, the studio released a sequel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps.

History

The studio was founded in 2010 by Thomas Mahler and Gennadiy Korol. During Mahler's tenure at Blizzard Entertainment, the successes of independent games like Castle Crashers, Limbo, and Braid encouraged him to leave the company to found an independent studio. The two chose the name "Moon Studios" as the company name as they were inspired by John F. Kennedy's quote, "We choose to go to the Moon". Mahler described Moon Studios as a "virtual studio," as the team did not rent an office and instead recruited talents from all over the world. Team members came from places such as Austria, Australia, Israel and the United States, and they collaborated with each other using the Internet.[3] The company's headquarters are located in Mahler's native Vienna.[4]

After assembling the team, Moon Studios started creating prototypes. One early prototype was named Warsoup, a first-person shooter mixed with real-time strategy elements. Another prototype was named Sein, a platformer with Metroidvania gameplay. Moon Studios started pitching Warsoup to publishers. Microsoft dismissed Warsoup but agreed to fund Sein, with Microsoft retaining the rights to the intellectual property. With a core team of 10 people alongside several remote working contractors, the game, which would later be renamed Ori and the Blind Forest, took the team 4 years to develop.[5]

The team met with each other for the first time at E3 2014, when the announcement trailer was released.[6] Ori and the Blind Forest received critical acclaim when it was released in March 2015. It was also a commercial success, as it recouped its development in 7 days.[7]

Following the success of Ori and the Blind Forest, the team expanded significantly. As of March 2020, the studio employed more than 80 people and recruited talents from 43 countries. To facilitate communication, Moon built its communication tool named "Apollo".[8] The team also organized yearly retreats to ensure the team bond together. At E3 2017, they announced a sequel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, which was released for the Xbox One and Windows 10 on March 10, 2020.[9]

The company is now working on an action role-playing game No Rest for the Wicked, which is set to be published by Private Division.[10] It is set to be released via early access for Windows PC in early 2024. Versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S were also in development.[11]

Games developed

Year Title Platform(s) Publisher(s)
2015 Ori and the Blind Forest Nintendo Switch, Windows, Xbox One Microsoft Studios
2020 Ori and the Will of the Wisps Nintendo Switch, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S Xbox Game Studios
TBA No Rest for the Wicked PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox Series X/S Private Division

Allegations of workplace abuse

In March 2022, VentureBeat published an article that detailed allegations of workplace abuse at Moon Studios with a particular focus on Mahler and Korol. These included claims of regular arguments during development, claims of a oppressive crunch culture at the studio and claims of racist, sexist, and anti-semitic language being used by Mahler and Korol during work hours.[12][13]

In a response to the report, Mahler and Korol claimed the details of the report were not representative of the working environment of the studio, nor its employees, touted the studio's multiculturalism, but also acknowledge that they have teased their cultural backgrounds. In addition, they expressed regret if anyone on staff felt uncomfortable or let down by their actions.[13]

References

  1. ^ Mahler, Thomas (5 May 2015). "Postmortem: Moon Studios' heartfelt Ori and the Blind Forest". Gamasutra. UBM TechWeb. Archived from the original on 9 May 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  2. ^ Staff (16 March 2016). "Witcher 3 wins Game of the Year at 16th annual Game Developers Choice Awards". Game Developers Conference. UBM TechWeb. Archived from the original on 19 March 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  3. ^ Mike Minotti (June 18, 2014). "Ori and the Blind Forest's producer wants his beautiful Xbox One exclusive to play as good as it looks (interview)". Yahoo! Games. Yahoo!, Inc. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
  4. ^ Mathé, Alexander U. (8 March 2019). ""Die Arroganz in Österreich regt mich auf"". Wiener Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 20 December 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  5. ^ Sinclair, Brendan (15 April 2015). "AAA should invest in indies - Ori dev". Gameindustry.biz. Archived from the original on 9 March 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  6. ^ Maher, Thomas (5 May 2015). "Postmortem: Moon Studios' heartfelt Ori and the Blind Forest Exclusive". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  7. ^ Eddie Makuch (9 April 2015). "Celebrated Xbox One Game Ori and the Blind Forest Profitable in One Week". gamespot.com. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 11 April 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  8. ^ Dring, Christopher (10 March 2020). "Building Ori and the Will of the Wisps with 80 people working from home". Gameindustry.biz. Archived from the original on 14 March 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  9. ^ Skrebels, Joe (11 June 2017). "ORI AND THE WILL OF THE WISPS REVEALED". IGN. Archived from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  10. ^ Blake, Vikki (22 December 2019). "Ori and the Blind Forest devs are making an action RPG". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  11. ^ Valentine, Rebekah (8 December 2023). "Ori Dev Reveals No Rest for the Wicked, Its First Entry in the Diablo Genre". IGN. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  12. ^ "Οι δημιουργοί του "Ori" φαίνεται να εργάζονται υπό καταπιεστικές συνθήκες". gr.ign.com. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  13. ^ a b "Despite its beautiful Ori games, Moon Studios is called an 'oppressive' place to work". VentureBeat. 18 March 2022. Retrieved 28 March 2022.

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