Lengthy new report delves into Moon Studio's reported culture issues.
Moon Studios, the developer behind
Ori and the Blind Forest and its sequel, is reportedly an "oppressive" place to work that has myriad issues with crunch, verbal abuse, and poor organization. This is according to a new report by
Gamesbeat, which reports that Xbox is no longer working with the studio following what was said to be a "difficult relationship."
The lengthy report details a range of allegations, most of which center on the studio's founders, Thomas Mahler and Gennadiy Korol. They include reports of "constant arguments," a crunch culture in which developers were expected to be available at all hours and on weekends, and a steady stream of racist, sexist, and anti-semitic banter.
"It's an oppressive workplace, for sure. But it’s hard to pinpoint one thing because, in isolation, all of these incidents, if they happen once, you would think they are small things," one developer is quoted as saying. "When you're dealing with that for [multiple] years, you're going to see the decline of people’s mental health. I can say that for myself, personally, I was properly messed up after we finished. I've never been depressed until that moment. I lost my passion for my job because they drummed it out of me."