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[TintoConCasera]

Well, with ARPGs it's not that easy. If you'd want any independent studio to be able to compete in the ARPG space, 'finish the game, then ask for my money' is not the answer due to the complexity of the genre. We made 2 games that were received to Overwhelmingly Positive reviews, but the Ori games are many paradigms less complex than something like No Rest for the Wicked.

We're the underdog here. We're trying to innovate in a genre that's been stale for 2 decades with a team of 90 people compared to the hundreds of people Blizzard, GGG and From Software have. And we're doing it because we think we can contribute something special that you just won't get anywhere else.

And yes, ultimately we're playing a high-risk game here, I'm well-aware of that.

Companies like Blizzard do the same thing we're doing, except they're not openly stating that their game is 'Early Access'. But the version of Diablo 4 that released is a completely different beast than the game you're playing now. At the very least with us we're telling you straight up that we're not done yet.

Wish you for the best man, but imo you tried to bite way too much with this project. You said it yourself: small team competing against some quite big studios, and ARPGs are quite complex in nature with all the balancing and fine tuning it requires.

I'm a bit out-of-touch so forgive me if you did this already, but... Did you guys ever considered releasing a demo or a free beta before jumping into EA? That might have been a better way to receive feedback without risking bad reviews. Plus free stuff is always a nice way to spread your game via word of mouth, imo.

Also... may I ask how a studio approaches this situation?: you want to make a cool game, you know your design decisions are correct but you get bad review from users who don't like those changes/decisions. What do you do? Man it must be a stressful situation to be in.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to come here and answer mine's and other's posts. Appreciated! And if you ever finish the game, you can count with my purchase. I played PoE2 as a warrior and loved the souls-like feel the combat gave, and if your game is somewhat similar I can see myself enjoying it a lot.

 

[near]

Oh brother, it cost us many, many, many millions. But we did it because we believe we have a hot iron in the oven and if you play Wicked right now, I think you'd probably agree

How do you find yourself in a position where, just months after spending millions to acquire the rights to Wicked, you're claiming that 'it's entirely possible we won't be around in a few months simply because we got review bombed'? This makes no sense, either you're being overly dramatic to shift the review aggregate, or your business strategy is fundamentally flawed.

 

[GHG]

Companies like Blizzard do the same thing we're doing, except they're not openly stating that their game is 'Early Access'. But the version of Diablo 4 that released is a completely different beast than the game you're playing now. At the very least with us we're telling you straight up that we're not done yet.

Yeh I was going to say, pretty much every game in this genre releases in an early access state, regardless of whether they admit it or not.

You've got examples like Wolcen and Diablo where they claim to be full releases but they are in fact early access games, and then you've got the likes of POE2 and last epoch which are more transparent about it.

Don't be deterred, keep doing what you're doing and I'm sure something will happen where the game will gain positive momentum, all the ingredients are there.

Wish you for the best man, but imo you tried to bite way too much with this project. You said it yourself: small team competing against some quite big studios, and ARPGs are quite complex in nature with all the balancing and fine tuning it requires.

Nah man that's the wrong way to look at it. When you're a smaller team you accept the risks.

Would you say the Expedition 33 team bit off more than they could chew? If nobody ever attempts to do something different/crazy then all we end up with is an industry that is overly conservative and lacks innovation. It's not like there isn't already plenty of that to go around anyway, look at the state of most AAA studios and what they produce.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

Teams of this size who create quality games need to be supported/protected.

If they spit off and go their separate ways there's no guarantee they will be able to showcase their talents in the same way, especially if they get swallowed up and lost in a larger publisher.

We've just seen the reverse of this happen with the devs that left Ubisoft and made Expedition 33. Don't take it for granted.



thomasmahler has just addressed this.

Clearly a difference of opinion, but like I said, nobody owes them anything. And whining on social media about how your business isn't doing well is not the way to go about solving your issues. That's my take, anyway

 

[Ozriel]

Oh brother, it cost us many, many, many millions. But we did it because we believe we have a hot iron in the oven and if you play Wicked right now, I think you'd probably agree

Oof. Unfair from Take Two to make you pay that much after winding down Private Division

But but Gamepass is so good for the developers.

How does any of this relate to GamePass?
Just mid month, but this is well in the running for the daftest post on GAF for May 2025. Well done!

 

[LegendOfKage]

The negative reviews coincide with The Breach patch update, and for the most part, people seem to offer genuine criticism. It might be a fair representation of the game's quality, as opposed to other instances where a game is review bombed for reasons unrelated to its quality.

It was genuine criticism and a fair representation of the game's quality for what I believe was literally two days. It took just a couple of days for the developer to readjust some unintended changes back to where things belonged. That's what is so wrong about this situation. And the exact same thing happened with Path of Exile 2, but their publisher is Tencent, so the exact same situation won't affect them in the slightest. I mentioned this earlier in the thread.

I also think asking fans to boost positive reviews is a bad move, as it can create a false perception of quality and mislead potential buyers. How is that any different from when Eidos put pressure on GameSpot for giving Kane & Lynch a bad review? It just comes across as unethical.

I can understand where you're coming from, but those bad reviews from May 1st or May 2nd do not accurately represent the game. If you're concerned about reviews that create a false perception and mislead potential buyers, I'd say those are much worse than asking fans to leave a positive review if they've played and enjoyed the game.

I read Game difficulty is a Problem. What is the Problem? Is the Game to Hard?

So would this Game give me what i want Right now ? Or is it already "fixed" ?

Yeah, it's fixed now. The game was always intended to be challenging, much like a souls game. An update unintentionally made it too hard (which is where the negative reviews came from), but that was fixed a couple of days later.

And for those who aren't interested in playing titles in early access, I can understand that as well. But if you think No Rest for the Wicked looks like a game that you'd be interested in playing when the full version is released, you could also support the game by wishlisting it on Steam, PlayStation, or Xbox. That doesn't cost you a thing, and it helps the game be seen by more people.

 

[Sooner]

I'll look into it when it's fully available and on PS5, as I liked the first Ori and loved the second.

But begging for good user reviews is soft AF and will only have the opposite effect

 

[thomasmahler]

How do you find yourself in a position where, just months after spending millions to acquire the rights to Wicked, you're claiming that 'it's entirely possible we won't be around in a few months simply because we got review bombed'? This makes no sense, either you're being overly dramatic to shift the review aggregate, or your business strategy is fundamentally flawed.

Not sure I understand what's so hard to get here?

We were faced with a situation where we either went independent or we would've been the ugly stepchild in the face of GTA VI being the only product that matters to T2 Interactive. We've been wanting to become independent for a while, so given the news that T2 is selling off Private Division, we had to scramble and negotiate to purchase the publishing rights back, which obviously wasn't a small investment.

That then made us dependent on actual sales, which we're okay with since we believe in our product and we're pretty confident that with Wicked we'll create one of the if not the best ARPG on the market. But if you get negative reviews on Steam, that has a heavy effect on future sales.

And again, I don't have any issues whatsoever with people who tried Wicked and didn't like it and therefore left a negative review - if there's constructive criticism, believe you me, we'll read it and we'll act upon it, like we've always done. But there's been quite a lot of reviews that don't have anything to do with the quality of the product. So in light of that, I just clarified to our players that negative reviews can be damning and I thought it was okay to ask those who play and love Wicked to leave a positive review to combat some of those 'Mahler is a Nazi' BS reviews.

 

[DragonNCM]

Time to call uncle Phil ?
He will gladly help.....ofc it will be day one on GP......at least you can finish the game & get some scrap from it.....

 

[GHG]

Clearly a difference of opinion, but like I said, nobody owes them anything. And whining on social media about how your business isn't doing well is not the way to go about solving your issues. That's my take, anyway

I wouldn't say it's "whining", it's more bringing attention to the situation they find themselves in.

The screengrab in the OP is from the games official discord server.

 

[Dane]

So let me see if I got this right: A week ago they released a massive update where they likely expected to bring it new customers by a positive engagement on Steam, but the update was massively panned and the developers had to release a quick patch a day later, with Mahler claiming it was one of his worst days ever. Combine that with Moon acquiring the publishing rights from Private Division's downfall, they might have been relying on that update to bring up the money they had spent, which now resulted in Mahler's pleas for positive reviews.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Nah man that's the wrong way to look at it. When you're a smaller team you accept the risks.

Would you say the Expedition 33 team bit off more than they could chew? If nobody ever attempts to do something different/crazy then all we end up with is an industry that is overly conservative and lacks innovation. It's not like there isn't already plenty of that to go around anyway, look at the state of most AAA studios and what they produce.

Is it cool to accept the risks and trying to make something new and innovative? Yeah it is, but you have to ponder the risks, do market research and try and decide if your ARPG made by a small team can handle the complexity of such a project while also competing with giants like Diablo, Last Epoch or Path of Exile 2.

ARPGs have long legs and kinda like GAAS games they have to compete against each other. A game like CO:EE3 has it easier in that sense because if you are a JRPG player, you finish one game and move on to the next game. ARPGs aim at keeping their players invested for a much longer time (I believe) so if you want people playing your game, you have to better than the rest. Diablo IV lost a TON of players when PoE2 released, for example.

I really wish for the best for those dudes because the game they are working on seems right up my alley. Just hoping they didn't shot themselves in the foot when they decided to attempt such a complex game and end up coming on top of this situation. Of course, I hope they do so by improving the game and not by begging for reviews while demonizing a sector of their consumers by saying they have been "review bombed" by them.

 

[ExtendEmbraceExtinguish]

They got themselves cornered in that situation and only got themselves to blame. What a cluster fuck

This. Co need to state who specifically is the target audience. Sounds like they wanted the mass market audience and made a core product.

 

[near]

Not sure I understand what's so hard to get here?

We were faced with a situation where we either went independent or we would've been the ugly stepchild in the face of GTA VI being the only product that matters to T2 Interactive. We've been wanting to become independent for a while, so given the news that T2 is selling off Private Division, we had to scramble and negotiate to purchase the publishing rights back, which obviously wasn't a small investment.

That then made us dependent on actual sales, which we're okay with since we believe in our product and we're pretty confident that with Wicked we'll create one of the if not the best ARPG on the market. But if you get negative reviews on Steam, that has a heavy effect on future sales.

And again, I don't have any issues whatsoever with people who tried Wicked and didn't like it and therefore left a negative review - if there's constructive criticism, believe you me, we'll read it and we'll act upon it, like we've always done. But there's been quite a lot of reviews that don't have anything to do with the quality of the product. So in light of that, I just clarified to our players that negative reviews can be damning and I thought it was okay to ask those who play and love Wicked to leave a positive review to combat some of those 'Mahler is a Nazi' BS reviews.

If you spent millions to acquire the rights, it would make sense to have a contingency plan in place to sustain operations during development. The idea that negative reviews alone could jeopardize the entire project raises legitimate questions about the studio's planning and financial management.

The other issue is that asking for positive reviews to counterbalance negative feedback can come off as an attempt to manipulate the review aggregate rather than addressing the valid criticism presented in those reviews. I understand that some of the negative feedback might be unfair or even defamatory, but lumping all criticism together or suggesting that reviews alone could end the studio feels like an overstatement. Most gamers value transparency, and if you openly acknowledge where the update might have missed the mark and detail plans to improve it, it could do more for the game's perception than a push for positive reviews. I've seen that there have been hotfixes since the update, but the point I'm making still stands.

I've looked through a lot of the reviews since The Breach update, and many of them seem genuine and fair. I haven't seen any 'Mahler is a Nazi' reviews. Your messaging here feels mixed, and it comes across as if you're blaming the community for the financial strain rather than acknowledging your own strategic choices.

As someone who was there on day one for the Early Access and even gifted the game to friends, I want nothing more than to see your studio succeed and for the game to realise its potential. But the reality is that the game has its problems, and the reviews I've seen do reflect its current state.

 

[GHG]

Is it cool to accept the risks and trying to make something new and innovative? Yeah it is, but you have to ponder the risks, do market research and try and decide if your ARPG made by a small team can handle the complexity of such a project while also competing with giants like Diablo, Last Epoch or Path of Exile 2.

ARPGs have long legs and kinda like GAAS games they have to compete against each other. A game like CO:EE3 has it easier in that sense because if you are a JRPG player, you finish one game and move on to the next game. ARPGs aim at keeping their players invested for a much longer time (I believe) so if you want people playing your game, you have to better than the rest. Diablo IV lost a TON of players when PoE2 released, for example.

I really wish for the best for those dudes because the game they are working on seems right up my alley. Just hoping they didn't shot themselves in the foot when they decided to attempt such a complex game and end up coming on top of this situation. Of course, I hope they do so by improving the game and not by begging for reviews while demonizing a sector of their consumers by saying they have been "review bombed" by them.

Many great things have humble beginnings.

All of the game franchises you listed in the genre started with small teams and were competing against much bigger teams with far more resources at the time of their respective releases.

It's also interesting that you mention Last Epoch as one of the giants when they also originally released that game in to early access while their development team was no bigger than a few dozen people. That game aslo went through a rocky and turbulent early access period and had periods where it's been review bombed, as had POE2.

I don't see anything wrong with a dev saying if you like the game then please leave a positive review because it helps.

The jrpg audience can be equally as unforgiving by the way, look at the way people talk about Square Enix these days and the way Eiyuden Chronicle was received. Overall gaming is a competitive space and all of these developers are fighting for both our time and respect, regardless of genre.

 

[OGM_Madness]

As a huge Souls fan, this game appeared on one of Iron Pineapples videos and even tho it seemed good and IP liked it, I wasn't that into it because I'm simply not into isometric games.

Also, this game I don't think it's on PS5 or Switch. Ori was never released on PlayStation so I never played Ori. I did see it got a Switch release, but haven't seen it go on a Sale so I've skipped it for now.

I don't think ADD players are the issue. There's probably some design flaw that make this title not a big deal as they had hoped. For starters, the Isometric view is something I cannot stand. Is the same reason I haven't played that Vampire GaaS looking game that did a Castlevania collab. I love Castlevania, but that isometric view makes the game look cheap IMO.

 

[DragonNCM]

Sometimes getting game out for early access is double adged sword
Today gamers are strange thing....they just wana rage about any & every game because they are spoiled with to many games on the market.

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

Early access.

 

[Salz01]

Not sure I understand what's so hard to get here?

We were faced with a situation where we either went independent or we would've been the ugly stepchild in the face of GTA VI being the only product that matters to T2 Interactive. We've been wanting to become independent for a while, so given the news that T2 is selling off Private Division, we had to scramble and negotiate to purchase the publishing rights back, which obviously wasn't a small investment.

That then made us dependent on actual sales, which we're okay with since we believe in our product and we're pretty confident that with Wicked we'll create one of the if not the best ARPG on the market. But if you get negative reviews on Steam, that has a heavy effect on future sales.

And again, I don't have any issues whatsoever with people who tried Wicked and didn't like it and therefore left a negative review - if there's constructive criticism, believe you me, we'll read it and we'll act upon it, like we've always done. But there's been quite a lot of reviews that don't have anything to do with the quality of the product. So in light of that, I just clarified to our players that negative reviews can be damning and I thought it was okay to ask those who play and love Wicked to leave a positive review to combat some of those 'Mahler is a Nazi' BS reviews.

Thanks for posting on here. Can you just quickly clarify if the game will see full release one day. Regardless of this current drama. Also if you still plan to release on console, and if so is it in the near future? I'll double dip if so.

 

[Poppyseed]

I usually don't buy early access game but I'll get this one just to support these developers, they have talent.

That's why I bought it last week.

 

[TintoConCasera]

I don't see anything wrong with a dev saying if you like the game then please leave a positive review because it helps.

It's unprofessional and gives a bad look. Why would I buy the game now seeing that it might never be completed? They should have focused on fixing whatever issues people are complaining about instead of going to their discord and beg for positive reviews.

Plus complaining about actual criticism and calling it "review bombing" is even worse. That concept has negative connotations and shouldn't mentioned when talking about fair criticism, which is why I see if I go to the Steam reviews section.

The jrpg audience can be equally as unforgiving by the way, look at the way people talk about Square Enix these days and the way Eiyuden Chronicle was received. Overall gaming is a competitive space and all of these developers are fighting for both our time and respect, regardless of genre.

Censorship and mismanagement, trust me Square deserves all the shit they can get and more. About that Eiyuden game, it had one of the worst translations ever done, plus the game wasn't all that great apparently.

Of course people are going to be unforgiving with companies that keep fucking up. We are consumers, if they want our money they have to put out good games or else people are going to complain, and rightfully so.

 

[LordBritish]

This game is badass.. well worth the price right now on steam.

 

[Luipadre]

Click it for more

 

[Bruno_Arrais85]

release the full game and I will buy it

 

[MagiusNecros]

The jrpg audience can be equally as unforgiving by the way, look at the way people talk about Square Enix these days and the way Eiyuden Chronicle was received. Overall gaming is a competitive space and all of these developers are fighting for both our time and respect, regardless of genre.

Well they suck, bleed talent and make lackluster games. Their best offerings in recent years have been Bravely and NieR. They phone it in big time with Remake Culture and Ubisoft tier FF games. You compare to BG3, Xenoblade whatever and now E33 and they look like a sad joke in comparison.

Hell I love Granblue Relink more then their recent FF walking simulators with combat sometimes.

 

[JusticeForAll]

The game looked very good to me, but then I read it was a multiplayer affair, so I kinda lost interest. Is it viable as a singleplayer game though? Anyway, until they launch on ps5, I wont play it anyway.

 

[//DEVIL//]

I mean. isnt this the same company the CEO was talking shit about MS or he was butthurt because Ori wasnt released on PlayStation ?

don't bite the hand that feeds you. you kinda had it coming dude.

also, the new game style isnt for me. they should have stayed with Ori play style but with different word / character / name to avoid MS IP name.

 

[SpokkX]

I have bought one copy already for support basically - usually do not dabble with early access and i really like the 2-3 hours i spent

however - i really think this game needs an official 1.0 for people to really notice it. early access kind of flies under the radar - even if the game has content. basically slapping coop on this and release out of early access is not an option?

 

[SpokkX]

The game looked very good to me, but then I read it was a multiplayer affair, so I kinda lost interest. Is it viable as a singleplayer game though? Anyway, until they launch on ps5, I wont play it anyway.

it is purely single player right now - and really good too.

 

[R3TRO]

Their new game looks like shit tbh so eh

 

[Banjo64]

I love Ori and the Blind Forest and Ori and the Will of the Wisps.

No Rest for the Wicked looks fantastic. However, a lot of people buy indie games on PS and Nintendo platforms. Early access also appears to be a hard sell for a game like this.

Honestly, I hope for a capital injection as Moon are a massive pro for the industry.

 

[OverHeat]

Should have stayed with Microsoft for publishing…

 

[Luipadre]

Their new game looks like shit tbh so eh

What looks shit about wicked? I wish i could shit like this

 

[thomasmahler]

Thanks for posting on here. Can you just quickly clarify if the game will see full release one day. Regardless of this current drama. Also if you still plan to release on console, and if so is it in the near future? I'll double dip if so.

Of course! We're full-steam ahead, all the future milestones are planned out and we have so much amazing stuff built up - Now we just need to finish it all up and wrap it in a nice package for 1.0 and finish up all the ports. I'm extremely confident that Wicked will be a GOTY contender at the time of its 1.0 release

 

[playbignbox]

This developer should listen to criticism and improve the game, instead of treating it as a review bomb.

It's very pathetic of him to disregard the opinion of those who supported the project and ask for artificially positive reviews.

 

[thomasmahler]

It's unprofessional and gives a bad look. Why would I buy the game now seeing that it might never be completed? They should have focused on fixing whatever issues people are complaining about instead of going to their discord and beg for positive reviews.

Plus complaining about actual criticism and calling it "review bombing" is even worse. That concept has negative connotations and shouldn't mentioned when talking about fair criticism, which is why I see if I go to the Steam reviews section.


Censorship and mismanagement, trust me Square deserves all the shit they can get and more. About that Eiyuden game, it had one of the worst translations ever done, plus the game wasn't all that great apparently.

Of course people are going to be unforgiving with companies that keep fucking up. We are consumers, if they want our money they have to put out good games or else people are going to complain, and rightfully so.

Chill, man. What you're saying we should've done is in fact exactly what we did do

We reacted IMMEDIATELY to the negative feedback and made tons of players happy with our hotfixes - with way more good stuff coming within our next patch!

The only reviews I'm calling out for 'Review Bombing' are the ones that are literally stating nothing or just state silly stuff like 'Mahler is an asshole'. Well, it's hard to react to that, lol.

 

[thomasmahler]

I mean. isnt this the same company the CEO was talking shit about MS or he was butthurt because Ori wasnt released on PlayStation ?

don't bite the hand that feeds you. you kinda had it coming dude.

also, the new game style isnt for me. they should have stayed with Ori play style but with different word / character / name to avoid MS IP name.

Well, people constantly get offended by getting sequels over sequels, 0 innovation... but every now and then we get this. People just asking us to repeat the same old successes, never risking anything. I spent 10 years on Ori already, I think it's fair for me to work on new projects as well after that

 

[Mister Wolf]

Chill, man. What you're saying we should've done is in fact exactly what we did do

We reacted IMMEDIATELY to the negative feedback and made tons of players happy with our hotfixes - with way more good stuff coming within our next patch!

The only reviews I'm calling out for 'Review Bombing' are the ones that are literally stating nothing or just state silly stuff like 'Mahler is an asshole'. Well, it's hard to react to that, lol.

Do you guys think you'll be out of early access by the end of this year? I bought it, but I'm waiting for the full release to start my playthrough.

 

[LegendOfKage]

It's unprofessional and gives a bad look. Why would I buy the game now seeing that it might never be completed?

The same reason anyone ever buys an early access title. Because you feel the slice of content you're getting in early access is worth the discounted price, plus the knowledge that you're helping fund development. And you get to play some of the game now, rather than waiting a year or so for the game to be finished. That, and when the full game is released, you end up paying less because you bought the game in early access.

Or you could just wait for the full game to be released. That's understandable as well.

They should have focused on fixing whatever issues people are complaining about instead of going to their discord and beg for positive reviews.

They already did that. It took them only a couple of days, but the negative reviews are still there. That's the issue.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I also think asking fans to boost positive reviews is a bad move, as it can create a false perception of quality and mislead potential buyers. How is that any different from when Eidos put pressure on GameSpot for giving Kane & Lynch a bad review? It just comes across as unethical.

That's 100% sketchy shit.

That's like buying something on Amazon and the seller sends you a message to give a 5 star review or the worst one I've seen.... one of the secretaries at my old company out of the blue sending me a Linkedin message asking if I can endorse her. Never worked with her in any capacity, barely remember her, and like 5 years after I left the company. And when I asked good friends from there guess what happened, she did the same to a bunch of us. No shame. Some people will do anything for a plug. And the dumb thing was according to her profile she was already working at a different company, so it's not even like she was unemployment desperate for a job. I deleted that message fast.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

man.. this feel like i burn so money .. really was hoping for this game to come out. Bought he Early access and all. I played the first session, didn't download breach and wanted to wait for the full game since i didn't want to get deep in the story.
I feel like im never going to see this game now. Like Bushiden.
Other note. How can you differentiate a good review that criticize the game to a review bomb to a bad review that still criticize? I remeber when Helldiver 2 had the review bomb issues and gamers used the system to make a statement. I still felt weird that gamers can muscle a dev into doing what they want.
Take last of us and that one characters death. Wouldn't it be weird to review bomb and have them change the story ?

Review bombing can be harsh, but there's a reason for it. How many games have the masses randomly review bombed just for laughs?

There's always something about it..... bad patch, politics, mtx whoring, or expectations were greatly missed (Warcraft remastered), H2 requiring PSN sign in at the beginning etc.... Some big name games always seem to have a target over their head like FIFA or COD being consistently review bombed due to legacy.

But a game from Moon Studios and No Rest isnt the kind of company that has 10 years being bullseye targeted like people complaining about COD mtx. So if No Rest got big negative reviews due to their recent patch, then they fucked up. If the patch was great, people would love it. Now it seems they need money to fix the game, despite already getting money with Early Access funds.

All you guys got to do it check the Steam negative reviews or google the reasons why gamers didnt like it. Dont fall for the dev's vague statement where no reasons are stated trying to make it look like No Rest was randomly picked for review bombing. Go to Steam for this game, check Negative reviews, Recent timing, skim the posts. There's a lot more issues than some people posting about game difficulty as if that's the only issue.

 

[//DEVIL//]

Well, people constantly get offended by getting sequels over sequels, 0 innovation... but every now and then we get this. People just asking us to repeat the same old successes, never risking anything. I spent 10 years on Ori already, I think it's fair for me to work on new projects as well after that

I never said otherwise, but the Last Ori game was so long ago that a spiritual successor could have been welcomed. It's just that the play style of the latest game isn't for me, or what I am used to from the team.

Besides, that wasn't really my point. The bad communication between the studio and a big publisher like MS was brought up to the public, so any chance of things recovering with MS is no longer an easy task. Which, if I am going to guess, makes other big publishers very cautious when dealing with the studio.

No offense or disrespect. But things shouldn't have been said in public like that. Not when the deal was made, the studio got their money and released the game, to badmouth the company that funded the 2 projects.

I hope the studio lands on its feet and makes more awesome games. Not every game a studio makes is for everyone, just like how I loved the 2 Ori games and didn't like the last one.

But what would I know? I wasn't there, so I can't judge. it's just this is how it looks to the public.

 

[playbignbox]

That's 100% sketchy shit.

That's like buying something on Amazon and the seller sends you a message to give a 5 star review or the worst one I've seen.... one of the secretaries at my old company out of the blue sending me a Linkedin message asking if I can endorse her. Never worked with her in any capacity, barely remember her, and like 5 years after I left the company. And when I asked good friends from there guess what happened, she did the same to a bunch of us. No shame. Some people will do anything for a plug. And the dumb thing was according to her profile she was already working at a different company, so it's not even like she was unemployment desperate for a job. I deleted that message fast.

I don't think asking for positive reviews if you enjoyed something is a bad thing. The problem is the guilt-tripping, saying the company will be in trouble if you don't. That just leads to a bunch of fake reviews and even purchases. Some people even said here they bought the game now, lol

 

[Jesb]

You mean their last game still hasn't released yet?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I don't think asking for positive reviews if you enjoyed something is a bad thing. The problem is the guilt-tripping, saying the company will be in trouble if you don't. That just leads to a bunch of fake reviews and even purchases. Some people even said here they bought the game now, lol

Good point. And stating it got "review bombed" isn't correct either. That term often carries a message a game got unjustly bombed due to gamers going on a campaign to grill a game for laughs. But the game got grilled due to a number of issues. So they pretty much deserved it. It's not like the 1000s of other games getting patches get equally bombed by gamers all the time.

I'd just let them die. There isn't even a guarantee if reviews improve and more sales come in that there will even be more updates or a final release. The game is still in Early Access.

 

[near]

I don't think asking for positive reviews if you enjoyed something is a bad thing. The problem is the guilt-tripping, saying the company will be in trouble if you don't. That just leads to a bunch of fake reviews and even purchases. Some people even said here they bought the game now, lol

Asking fans to leave a positive review if they like the game isn't inherently a big issue. Although, in the context of trying to change an aggregate score, it's still a bit problematic. What really leaves a bad taste, though, is preying on the empathy of your fans with statements like, "we won't be around in a couple of months to do anything anymore simply because we got review bombed."

And then, on top of that, he released a tweet saying the company isn't in immediate financial danger. Like what? lol. Bruh.

The worst part of all this is that the overall average for the game is still at "Mostly Positive." The recent reviews are just "Mixed," which is an aggregate over the last 30 days, and that's mainly because of feedback on The Breach update. If you actually scroll through the negative reviews, they're mostly fair criticisms, nothing like "Mahler is a Nazi" or other outlandish claims.

 

[Lord Panda]

thomasmahler I'm glad you're posting here, and I hope you and the team can successfully navigate through this. I'm looking forward to seeing all the changes to the game as I bought my early access copy shortly after launch, and only managed an hour or so on it.

 

[Fess]

Well, people constantly get offended by getting sequels over sequels, 0 innovation... but every now and then we get this. People just asking us to repeat the same old successes, never risking anything. I spent 10 years on Ori already, I think it's fair for me to work on new projects as well after that

Your fanbase comes through Ori though. So it should be expected that your fans want you to continue that saga.

And idk I think it seems extremely high risk to do something entirely different as the only project you have cooking. Especially when you're not on console and Xbox where most of your hype for Ori and the whole studio comes from.

Ignoring the studio size it's kinda like Bethesda making a chess game for Switch only instead of doing The Elder Scrolls VI for PC and highend consoles.


News outlets keep on mentioning that Wicked is from the Ori developer, so your old fans on console are automatically drawn to check it out. You should use that to your advantage!

Some solid 1.0 console release news plus some sort of collaboration with MS on Xbox Series or the Xbox handheld or next gen Xbox or whatever fits the timeframe would instantly get the snowball rolling for hype.

As it is there will be lots of disappointed old fans when they see that it's not available on any console. You're banking on your PC fans to do the heavy lifting for positive chatter now. Might not be as easy as if you would be on console.


Anyhow, as many has said here I too wish you luck on this project. Wicked was among my personal GOTY candidates last year. It's a very special game. I'll check out the new update and will make sure to give a thumbs up if I like it.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

And then, on top of that, he released a tweet saying the company isn't in immediate financial danger. Like what? lol. Bruh.

He said that too? When? Seems like mixed messages.

 

[Tunned]

I've put 29 hours into the game, for me I got my money's worth even if I will never play it again (which I will). Left a positive review on Steam, looking forward to playing more because the gameplay and ambience are amazing.