Ori and the Blind Forest and its sequel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, are games that have received a lot of love and appreciation from players and critics. Sadly, a new report points out that the situation in Moon Studios isn’t as nice as its titles, with some of its employees describing the studio as “racist, oppressive, and toxic.”
As part of an investigation by GamesBeatseveral former employees and employees of Moon Studios they were contacted privately to find out exactly what the work situation was like inside the studio. As a result, all kinds of responses were obtained, mostly negative. An anonymous developer stated the following:
“We created something really special, and the only way I was able to get over it was to see people on Twitch and how they were moved by it, and that was part of my healing process. Because maybe my suffering was worth it, because people felt something. In the end, many of us feel fatigued.”
As more interviews were conducted, multiple employees of Moon Studios they described the work environment as unprofessional and abusive. Anti-Semitic comments were constantly being made in work chats, as well as various ‘jokes’ about genitalia.
Moon Studios was contacted by GamesBeat to respond to these allegations and to do so, they shared an extensive statement. Here is an excerpt from it:
“We do not believe that the experiences suggested by your questions are representative of the 80+ members that Moon Studios has and are thriving and working hard every day — nor do we believe that they are representative of the experiences of former members of our team. In fact, we are very proud of our history and of making people happy, advancing their careers, and contributing to their financial success.
We built Moon Studios on a simple premise. First, we wanted to create a diverse studio that is not limited by geographical boundaries, allowing us to recruit talent from around the world. Second, we wanted to foster a culture where our team could thrive and deliver the best that the industry has to offer. And finally, from day one we share the profits and rewards of our efforts with the entire team. We believe we have been successful with this.”
Nevertheless, Moon Studios admits that due to the sheer number of people working within the studio, there may have been scenarios where a joke felt out of place and that caused certain employees with a certain culture to feel offended, but according to them, it was never their intention.
Publisher’s note: It is unfortunate that these types of cases continue to come to light, and it seems that few studies have come out exempt. It seems that the situation within Activision Blizzard caused multiple media outlets to become interested in knowing what other video game companies have these same problems, and sadly, the results were quite extensive.
Via: GamesBeat
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