Studio head Thomas Mahler is having one, with a series of confusing, contradictory social media posts
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11812d

“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. What a world we live in.”

And like that I will not buy anything by this studio ever. Mahler is a whiny bitch baby.

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1312d

Yeaaaah, I’m with you. What a wild comment to make. I was ready to give them the benefit of the doubt that the whole review bombing drama was just a case of having a bad day but this is something else.

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3512d

And

The confusing rant then rather radically changed subject to talk about how he doesn’t want to take sides in the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine

And

In 2022, VentureBeat reported that staff working for Moon Studios had told the outlet about a culture of “casual racism, sexism and bullying,” describing it as “an oppressive workplace.”

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2312d

Oh shit, thanks for bringing this up. Will definitely never buy a game from this studio again!

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8812d

This does more damage than the actual review bombs for me

Pika
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711d

yea for real… like I didn’t even know it /was/ being review bombed, but as an avid fan of the Ori series… this puts a real sour taste in my mouth

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12d

He had more of similar comments throughout the years so… yeah. He’s also known for poor management and causing toxic work environment to the point Microsoft decided to cut ties with the studio.
Just in case someone thought these are just some out of context or one-time “jokes”/missteps.

Heck, here are some bonus links for good measure:

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1212d

Yup.

I want to say we all found out he was a piece of shit in the lead up to Ori 2? Very much led to a lot of outlets doing the “The game is good but up to you if you want to support this kind of worker abuse”. And he just got worse and worse since.

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712d

I want to say we all found out he was a piece of shit in the lead up to Ori 2?

Eh, not necessarily? I’m sure there are plenty of people who just play the games and aren’t in the know of any drama going on behind the scenes. Heck, I’m pretty tuned in into what’s going on in the industry and while I remember hearing some of this stuff back in the day most of it faded away since I wasn’t particularly interested in the series.

I think it’s better to remind folks about these situations than assume everyone is familiar with what’s going on.

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1212d

I personally love the games and had no clue this drama existed. Kind of regret buying these games now

Pika
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111d

I don’t regret buying them, they are good games, but I don’t Condone shitty practices. If you restricted yourself to moral or ethic right companies only you would have nothing to buy sadly. You buying a game != you accepting the ideologies of the leadership of said game.

Just get games you know you enjoy, and ignore all the dramatics that are involved. Life’s to short to lock yourself down with it all.

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512d

Same here, if there’s any plan to continue the series count me out

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612d

You already played the games, you enjoy them - it is what it is. There’s no point in beating yourself over (not) doing something without knowledge about the circumstances. No one is omnipotent and can avoid supporting every single shitty person out there. Just have fun with what you like and don’t support the guy in the future, that’s the best one can do in such situation in my opinion.

反いじめ戦隊
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12d

So then I was correct to spot the plea for positive review bombing his game. Two shades for Machiavellianing your workers, three for us.

Pika
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111d

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1712d

Oof, yep this really does damage to my intention to buy his game more than ‘review bombing’ often you can tell if there is something fundamentally wrong with a game or not based on the actual content of reviews…Or if users are pushing for an adjustment. If there is a whisper of a trans or gay character in a game, there is so much pushback, so I don’t know what the fuck he is on about; Mahler is such a whiny snowflake, that probably needs to take his medication because his post history is looking a little sus. Like he unplugged from reality for a few minutes.

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1212d

Oh damn. I was going to get the Ori games but will spend my money elsewhere. Thanks for the heads up.

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912d

🏴‍☠️ them instead

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1412d

There was no review bombing.

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512d

It’s a quote from the article about his response to this situation.

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10d

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12d

Takes it all back because A. There was no review bombing, people who left mixed reviews had reasonable and valid complaints, and B. He reversed course as soon as people started pointing out how he was protesting quite a lot about exactly nobody calling him a Nazi.

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1812d

I assumed pretty immediately upon hearing him in a couple of interviews that he was exactly this right winger camoflaughing as a centralist. I gave the game the benefit of the doubt because I hadn’t seen any hard evidence but I’ll stop talking kindly about the game based on this info.

Politics is how we organize our society. Most of everything is political. When society starts organizing movements against groups of people, stripping away rights, and generally being Nazis you have to get more political to stop them. Taking no position is taking a position. Join the rebellion or support the empire, there is no in-between.

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412d

Awwww and I wanted to buy and play them :(

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1012d

👒 🏴‍☠️ 🌊 🚢 you can still play them Arrr

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212d

That’s when I wear the pirate hat but still! I saw a bundle with the first game :(

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212d

This is the way 🦜

mohab
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19d

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