Moon Studios CEO Pleads for Positive Reviews Amid Controversy

Moon Studios, the developer behind the award-winning Ori series, has landed in hot water after its CEO Thomas Mahler asked players to leave positive reviews for their latest game, No Rest for the Wicked.

The controversy began when Mahler posted on Discord suggesting that without more positive reviews, the studio might not survive. "It's entirely possible that we won't be around in a couple of months to do anything anymore simply because we got review bombed," Mahler wrote, according to a report by Windows Central.

This plea came after the game's May 1 update called "The Breach" received numerous negative reviews on Steam. Players complained about increased difficulty, unhelpful quality-of-life changes, and the game becoming less enjoyable overall.

After Mahler's Discord comments spread across the internet, he took to social media platform X to clarify his position. Despite his earlier warning about the studio's potential shutdown, he claimed, "We're not in immediate financial danger." He explained that his original comments were meant to "push back against some of the bullshit reviews."

However, Mahler's explanation took a controversial turn when he suggested that some negative reviews were politically motivated. "I've been hated on Twitter by a few crazies for years now, and I also saw the calls for review bombing because, according to those folks, I'm a 'Nazi,'" he wrote.

He further inflamed the situation by stating, "These days, apparently anyone who doesn't include five trans characters in their game and doesn't let their products be influenced by political bullshit is a Nazi."

Mahler also shared that when the Russia-Ukraine war began, he announced that Moon Studios wouldn't take a public stance because they're "a video game company, not a journalistic outlet." The next day, he claims a threatening letter with a picture of Putin was taped to his office door.

Despite the controversy, No Rest for the Wicked was rated "Mostly Positive" from over 32,000 reviews at the time of reporting. Mahler insisted that the 90-person team at Moon Studios remains focused on creating "masterpieces" and aims to push larger companies like Blizzard to innovate through competition.

No Rest for the Wicked represents a significant departure from Moon Studios' previous platformer games. It's an action role-playing game similar to FromSoftware's Souls franchise and Blizzard's Diablo. The game is currently in early access, allowing players to purchase and play an unfinished version while development continues.