Ori, No Rest for the Wicked CEO Says Studio Could Close, Then Backtracks

He probably exaggerated a bit but at the end of the day Moon Studios is an 80+ man studio that makes £35 AA games. If this game is not a big hit then people are almost certainly losing their jobs and I wouldn’t be surprised if the studio died. Simply making good games is not enough anymore.

Of course, we’re now in the age where people actively hope for studios closing and thousands of people losing their jobs…

@ChrisDeku You had the most sensible take about this that I've seen.

Hmm I get that studios are facing enormous pressures right now and have the utmost sympathy for them, but if the complaints are legitimate (rather than the usual practice of bombing a game that dares have a female character in it) then this sort of plea leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Reviews are there to inform consumers, and artificially boosting it by emotionally blackmailing your fans rather than addressing their concerns will just hoodwink unsuspecting users into buying a subpar product

Ya know what makes me not want to buy your game? A developer who blames players for their game’s issues (even if they are minor) and then dev blames the media for statements that that said dev made.

This is a very familiar and ***** formula. I am (was) interested in No Rest For The Wicked, but maybe I’m not now. I don’t want to support lunacy.

Y'know, Tekken producer was on stage this last weekend and apologized to the public, said it was a mistake to let a new team to handle Tekken and that they'll bring the old team to fix things and teach the new team how to handle stuff, also that they should have listened the community and this will not happen again.

The same guy who is famous for using a shirt saying "Don't ask me for sh*t" mind you.

So, a new patch for NRFTW drops after a year of nothing happening, it makes the grind unbearable and it has an unbalanced difficulty spike, people complain and instead of listening the feedback and fixing, the dev basically says "people are wrong, the game is awesome, this is a review bombing, please if you support leave a positive review or else we might have to shutdown", how do you think people should feel towards the game? I don't know about other people, but I know every interest I had in this game died with this drama.

I purchased early access at launch then refunded due to the instability, especially given the game doesn’t require internet. Every major patch they remove QoL features, change the game entirely save for the art style and story, or just add something that makes it even less fun. The recent update (made things very clunky and sludgy, not methodical like it was) and the insistence that they’ll change leveling up because people don’t get it (we do get it, you’re just not good at balancing) makes it seem like bad leadership. If it makes it to full release I’ll give it a whirl again, but until then I’m staying back.

As for his little tantrum here, that’s pretty much all it is. You’re the CEO of a developer, you of all people should know that bad reviews don’t kill a studio. Bad decisions and reactions do.

They could have boost their financials very easily. Just release FUL-FAT Ori collection for PS5 & PS4

About releasing the original games on Playstation.word up son

This is why I hate the tendency of gaming press to race to get impressions and reviews out quickly. When the latest overhaul/patch for this dropped, numerous publications dropped articles praising the game for all sorts of positive changes, but those were clearly all made in response to what the devs SAID was happening, not what the community felt or what the game truly felt like. There has been a lot of backlash now and it's clear they missed the mark, but the game probably saw a spike in new players/influx of old ones coming back BECAUSE of those glowing previews so those players are likely doubly pissed and more likely to leave negative reviews because they feel misled.

If gaming press simply waited for the dust to settle on these things and offered ACTUAL coverage of how a game is changing and how its community is reacting to it, all of this would likely be severely reduced in scale because people would have a better sense of what is ACTUALLY going on. I mean, just look at the pre-release previews for things like Diablo 4 seasons. Everything is always praising all the big changes, but it drops and (when it's not a hit) you can IMMEDIATELY tell within the community. So what is the benefit of having an inaccurate preview out early versus having an accurate one out a week or two later? Is it really that important for gaming news to glaze developers?

It makes no sense to me. It's why I often rely on the actual communities surrounding games I like and not any such articles. All it has done is drive me away from the very news sites that need my eyes and clicks, so what good has it served?

Maybe instead of begging for positive reviews, you take what people are unhappy about and address it, and fix it.

I love the two Ori games, and have seen gameplay of No Rest, but this just isn't the right way to go about things. It comes off as really petty and whiney, with gaslighting in between.

As someone who literally just beat Ori and the Blind Forest for the first time Saturday and is 6hrs deep in Will of Whisps.. this is saddening.. but whatever I guess.. I’ll enjoy the ride while it’s here

Sales arent meeting expectations? Its early access currently and only on pc. What are their expectations

"it's detrimental that we get our review score back up."

Um, what?

@DogPark Dude, English isn't his first language, so I think we can cut him some slack. You understand what he's saying, though.

He was likely exaggerating to make a point, but his point is valid. Several good points.

People are quick to review bomb games nowadays, and are quick to review negatively and not as quick to review positively (the "broken shoelace" syndrome, where people are quick to tell everyone when their shoelace breaks, but not as quick to tell people how they were their favorite shoes that were comfortable and worn every day forever).

Negative reviews have real consequences, like he points out. When games have reviews that trend negatively, sales diminish. When sales diminish, less is able to be invested in the game to address the issues, people lose their jobs, studios shut down, etc.

Not saying there should only be positive reviews, but people posting negative 1/10 reviews because they didn't like a particular gameplay mechanic, or because there's a bug or instability in a prerelease/early access game, or using negative reviews as a way to communicate with the devs thinking it'll get their attention, etc., probably does way more real-world harm than some may realize.

So why are they review bombing it ?

It's an Early Access game, the time when the player base is more likely to give & change reviews as feedback on the current state of the game. This is not the time to be focusing on sales & the drop-off of them, those are 1.0 goals. Just focus on the complaints and the praise, and lock-on what needs changing, what needs adjusting and how to better highlight what works well.

I really wish that Steam wouldn't allow reviews to early access games. No Rest For The Wicked has lots of potential and its getting better all the time. But I won't write a review for something that isn't officially released. review bombing positive or negative an unreleased game should not be possible.

Unfortunate. It's why I very rarely review (usually old games anyways besides odd others of modern era I see something in, otherwise comments on reviews like sites like this) unless I have enough to say about a title. But I still give enough of a mix of points when I make a review.

I don't go oh the score and oh it sucks completely. I don't like some games but I still like something about them even in cases I don't like other factors more.

But some people take it too far then go for what they REALLY want in a game.

I go for gameplay so to me if artstyle or themes are there it varies. I think they may be fine but to others it may vary.

I don't take a review saying a sentence and saying it's bad as that's backed up by nothing anyway, why would I take that seriously. But people want quick responses/don't want to read so understandable. Whatever easy to throw around.

I wish them the best even if maybe not my type of game I don't know I have vaguely heard of/remember Wicked. Of course have Moon Studios/Ori.

I don't sympathy buy either.

@lazarus11 They are not review bombing it. Negative reviews do not mean you are review bombing. The last patch had some awful updates and people who have put dozens of hours into the game are rightfully giving feedback. It’s extremely annoying that any negative reviews are seen as review bombing when most of them are pretty thorough and exact.This dev is a donkey.