Moon Studios struggling to fund new game after publisher dropout
Moon Studios had a quick rise to fame thanks to its platforming title, Ori and the Blind Forest, and its excellent sequel, Will of the Wisps. The studio was making a splash in the ARPG scene with its latest title, No Rest for the Wicked, but slowing sales are now putting the studio in jeopardy according to CEO, Thomas Mahler.
In a series of Discord posts, Mahler warned fans of No Rest for the Wicked that the project, and studio as a whole, were in trouble. According to Mahler, the game has been ‘review bombed’, despite the fact that the game has a ‘mostly positive’ review score on Steam. There was a spike in negative reviews on the 1st and 2nd of May, as shown by the Steam reviews chart, but negative reviews quickly dropped back to normal levels that same week.
As reported by VGC, Mahler went on to say: “I think people think I’m joking when I’m asking for positive reviews cause in peoples minds there’s always some big publisher in the background who’ll cover costs”.
“I wouldn’t ask if our business wouldn’t be dependent on it. I also never write reviews on anything, but if you want to see us actually finish Wicked, it’s detrimental”.
No Rest for the Wicked was originally going to be published by Take-Two’s former indie-focused label, Private Division. However, Take-Two sold off the business last year and eventually, publishing rights for the game were returned to Moon Studios. Now, Moon finds itself in a position where it has to self-fund the project, something that the studio is apparently not in a strong position to do.
KitGuru Says: Unfortunately, No Rest for the Wicked might be joining a growing list of projects that have suffered thanks to Take-Two’s handling of Private Division.
