Moon Studios, formerly responsible for the beloved Ori series, is in serious trouble in recent days. The cause? Their newest game, No Rest For The Wicked. Best-believe-that-could actually be closing-aided by time-based review bombing that utterly destroyed not just the reputation, but worse, the sales.
What went wrong? Simply put, it was a hyped up launch. Fans were expecting another masterwork from the devs behind Ori: Blind Forest. What they got was… something that really failed to meet expectations. Hours long was the backlash; thousands of Steam reviews fell in hours, shit started hitting the social media fan, and Moon Studios is now drowning.
Review bombing now is no longer just a tantrum on the Internet-that has completely destroyed the market chance for a game. Well, maybe this one killed a company. Also, some insiders in the industry are speaking about very serious damage, although Moon Studios has not yet come out with an official statement affirming anything. Serious damage; bad enough to make investors nervous and devs looking for new jobs.
Well, really, how bad was No Rest For The Wicked? Some players said “No.” Some players said: “It was not perfect, but it never deserved that much hate.” Others would stick to their one-star review claiming that it was buggy, unbalanced, and just not really fun.
Moon Studios was not the first victim of review bombing. Nor will it be the last. What accentuates this is that this could be their last game. After years of gorgeous, heartfelt platformers, they dared to do their own thing-and that in itself could be the biggest backfire one could imagine.
What now? Should it fall, that will be the huge loss of the indie scene. Ori was a masterpiece; and thinking that we may never see another game like it is a total mood killer. But then again, maybe Obama’s situation at least isn’t a total loss; maybe they pull through, maybe they fix No Rest For The Wicked into a masterpiece, or maybe they make a crazy Ori 3.
But things don’t look good at all, as of now. Just now, if that’s all for Moon Studios, then that’s one cold bitter throwback that takes you through how really tough this industry is. One slip; a tide of bad reviews is just around the corner, and all your hard work spanning for years just… disappears.
So go ahead; if you still aren’t sure about No Rest For The Wicked, grab it before it’s gone. Or don’t. Either way, this could be the last time we hear from Moon Studios-and I swear, what a shame!
