The CEO of Ori series creator Moon Studios, Thomas Mahler, has apologised for his strong criticism of high-profile game developers.
In a post on Twitter, the developer said that his post on ResetEra about studios overhyping their games to the point where they could never actually deliver on the promise did not represent Moon Studios in the correct way. Mahler initially called out development giants such as Lionhead's Peter Molyneux, as well as No Man's Sky dev Hello Games and CD Projekt of Cyberpunk 2077 fame.
“Yesterday I used an overly aggressive tone that wasn’t really suited for someone in my position. My intention was not to hurt anybody but to offer up a discussion starter on current issues the industry is facing," Mahler wrote.
“We all share a common love for this art form and we should always remain respectful with each other. And I wasn’t yesterday.
“And for that, I really am sorry, especially to those that I mentioned by name. I promise that I’ll learn from this mistake and wish no hard feelings towards anybody.”
In the conclusion of his initial post on ResetEra, Mahler wrote: "I know this whole thread might come off as me sounding bitter and I'm sure there'll be some people that see this as me shitting on other devs. No, I'm not. I'm shitting on liars and people that are okay with openly deceiving others. I'd argue that we should all agree that this shit is not okay. If I go and buy a car and the car salesman sells me a car that supposedly has 300 horse power, but on the drive home after the purchase I notice that he switched out the motor when I wasn't looking, I'd be rightfully pissed off, cause I was deceived.
"And yet, gamers and journalists don't really seem to mind all that much. Yeah, the backlash is coming, but usually you see a ton of people then arguing that they like the game that came out of it anyway. That is so not the point. It doesn't matter if the snake oil actually tastes fine. Don't sell me on features that don't exist. Don't paint a picture that you'll not be able to deliver."
Moon Studios is best-known for the Microsoft-published Ori series of Metroidvania titles. Last year, the developer said that it was teaming up with Take-Two's Private Division label for an upcoming release.
