Moon Studios

Moon Studios GmbH
Company typePrivate
IndustryVideo games
Founded2010; 16 years ago (2010)
Founder
Headquarters
Vienna
,
Austria
Key people
Thomas Mahler (CEO)
ProductsOri and the Blind Forest
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
No Rest for the Wicked
Number of employees
80+ (2020)
Websitemoongamestudios.com

Moon Studios GmbH is an Austrian video game developer founded in 2010.[1] They are best known for their 2015 title Ori and the Blind Forest, for which the studio was awarded the Best Debut award at the 2016 Game Developers Choice Awards.[2] In 2020, the studio released a sequel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps. In 2024, Moon Studios released the action role-playing game No Rest for the Wicked in Early Access.

History

The studio was founded in 2010 by Thomas Mahler and Gennadiy Korol. During Mahler's tenure at Blizzard Entertainment, the successes of independent games like Castle Crashers, Limbo, and Braid encouraged him to leave the company to found an independent studio. The two chose the name "Moon Studios" as the company name as they were inspired by John F. Kennedy's quote, "We choose to go to the Moon". Mahler described Moon Studios as a "virtual studio," as the team did not rent an office and instead recruited talents from all over the world. Team members came from places such as Austria, Australia, Israel and the United States, and they collaborated with each other using the Internet.[3] The company's headquarters are located in Mahler's native Vienna.[4]

After assembling the team, Moon Studios started creating prototypes. One early prototype was named Warsoup, a first-person shooter mixed with real-time strategy elements. Another prototype was named Sein, a platformer with Metroidvania gameplay. Moon Studios started pitching Warsoup to publishers. Microsoft dismissed Warsoup but agreed to fund Sein, with Microsoft retaining the rights to the intellectual property. With a core team of 10 people alongside several remote working contractors, the game, which would later be renamed Ori and the Blind Forest, took the team 4 years to develop.[5]

The team met with each other for the first time at E3 2014, when the announcement trailer was released.[6] Ori and the Blind Forest received critical acclaim when it was released in March 2015. It was also a commercial success, as it recouped its development in 7 days.[7]

Following the success of Ori and the Blind Forest, the team expanded significantly. As of March 2020, the studio employed more than 80 people and recruited talents from 43 countries. To facilitate communication, Moon built its communication tool named "Apollo".[8] The team also organised yearly retreats to ensure the team bond together. At E3 2017, they announced a sequel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, which was released for the Xbox One and Windows 10 on 10 March 2020.[9]

In December 2019, the studio announced that it was developing the action role-playing game No Rest for the Wicked.[10] The game was formally revealed at The Game Awards 2023 and was announced for publication by Private Division, a label of Take-Two Interactive.[11] No Rest for the Wicked launched in Early Access for Windows via Steam on 18 April 2024.[12] The game received multiple major updates during Early Access, including The Crucible (July 2024) and The Breach (April 2025).[13] In February 2026, Moon Studios announced that No Rest for the Wicked had sold 1.5 million copies during Early Access.[14]

In 2024, Take-Two Interactive began the process of shuttering Private Division. Following several months of negotiations, Moon Studios reacquired the publishing rights to No Rest for the Wicked in March 2025 and stated that the studio had become fully independent.[15][16] In January 2026, the studio released the Together update, adding cooperative multiplayer to the game during Early Access.[17]

Games developed

Year Title Platform(s)
2015 Ori and the Blind Forest Nintendo Switch, Windows, Xbox One
2020 Ori and the Will of the Wisps Nintendo Switch, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
2024 (Early Access) No Rest for the Wicked Windows (Early Access)[18]

Ori series

In 2015, Mahler and Gennadiy Korol co-created the critically acclaimed and award-winning indie game title, Ori and the Blind Forest.[19][20][21][22] Mahler won the NAVGTR Award in the Game, Original Adventure category in 2016 with Ori and the Blind Forest.[23] The game is considered an example of video games becoming closer to art, and it won, among others, the BAFTA Games Award for Artistic Achievement and the Game Award for Best Art Direction.[24] For example, Chris Melissinos commented that the video game audience was not used to seeing Ori and the Blind Forest's dreamlike sensitivity style of art usually reserved for high profile animated films.[25]

Key people

Thomas Mahler

Thomas Mahler
EmployerMoon Studios
Notable workOri and the Blind Forest, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, No Rest for the Wicked

Thomas Mahler is an Austrian video game developer best known for being co-creator of the 2015 indie game title, Ori and the Blind Forest. Under Mahler's direction, Moon Studios developed its sequel Ori and the Will of the Wisps (2020) as well as the action role-playing game No Rest for the Wicked (2024).

Mahler was interested with video games and artwork at an early age and studied traditional sculpture in the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.[26][27] He worked at Blizzard Entertainment on visual effects as a Cinematic Artist before founding Moon Studios GmbH in Vienna together with Gennadiy Korol in 2010.[28][29][30]

References

  1. ^ Mahler, Thomas (5 May 2015). "Postmortem: Moon Studios' heartfelt Ori and the Blind Forest". Gamasutra. UBM TechWeb. Archived from the original on 9 May 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  2. ^ Staff (16 March 2016). "Witcher 3 wins Game of the Year at 16th annual Game Developers Choice Awards". Game Developers Conference. UBM TechWeb. Archived from the original on 19 March 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  3. ^ Mike Minotti (June 18, 2014). "Ori and the Blind Forest's producer wants his beautiful Xbox One exclusive to play as good as it looks (interview)". Yahoo! Games. Yahoo!, Inc. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
  4. ^ Mathé, Alexander U. (8 March 2019). ""Die Arroganz in Österreich regt mich auf"". Wiener Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 20 December 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  5. ^ Sinclair, Brendan (15 April 2015). "AAA should invest in indies - Ori dev". Gameindustry.biz. Archived from the original on 9 March 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  6. ^ Mahler, Thomas (5 May 2015). "Postmortem: Moon Studios' heartfelt Ori and the Blind Forest". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 9 May 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  7. ^ Eddie Makuch (9 April 2015). "Celebrated Xbox One Game Ori and the Blind Forest Profitable in One Week". gamespot.com. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 11 April 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  8. ^ Dring, Christopher (10 March 2020). "Building Ori and the Will of the Wisps with 80 people working from home". Gameindustry.biz. Archived from the original on 14 March 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  9. ^ Skrebels, Joe (11 June 2017). "ORI AND THE WILL OF THE WISPS REVEALED". IGN. Archived from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  10. ^ Blake, Vikki (22 December 2019). "Ori and the Blind Forest devs are making an action RPG". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  11. ^ "Private Division and Moon Studios Announce No Rest for the Wicked". Take-Two Interactive. 8 December 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
  12. ^ "No Rest for the Wicked on Steam". Steam. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
  13. ^ "News". No Rest for the Wicked. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
  14. ^ "No Rest for the Wicked - 1.5 Million Copies sold!". Steam. Valve. 4 February 2026. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
  15. ^ "Moon Studios becomes 'fully independent' after buying No Rest for the Wicked's publishing rights". Game Developer. 12 March 2025. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
  16. ^ McCrae, Scott (11 March 2025). "Ori and the Blind Forest developer is now "fully independent" after "months of negotiation" with what remained of its gutted publisher". GamesRadar. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  17. ^ "No Rest for the Wicked Together – Experience the Next Evolution of Co-op". Gamespress. 22 January 2026. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
  18. ^ "No Rest for the Wicked on Steam". Steam. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
  19. ^ Zorn, Josef (21 April 2015). "Thomas Mahler gegen die Welt—und die österreichische Gaming-Community". VICE. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  20. ^ "Ori and the Blind Forest Dev Wants to Continue the Story, Possibly With a Movie". Yahoo! Movies. 10 April 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  21. ^ Mahler, Thomas (5 May 2015). "Postmortem: Moon Studios' heartfelt Ori and the Blind Forest". Game Developer. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  22. ^ Webber, Jordan Erica (1 April 2015). "Ori and the Blind Forest review: "a challenging and beautiful journey"". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  23. ^ "Thomas Mahler". IMDb. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  24. ^ "Profile: Gennadiy Korol". Forbes. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  25. ^ Melissinos, Chris (21 October 2016). "Can video games be art?". CNN. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  26. ^ Matulef, Jeffrey (7 July 2014). "Ori and the Blind Forest looks great, but plays even better". Eurogamer. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  27. ^ "Mahler: "Wir Österreicher brauchen mehr Mut"". Red Bull (in German). 10 March 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  28. ^ "Moon Studios | Ori". Ori. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  29. ^ ""Ori"-Entwickler: Für Top-Games aus Österreich fehlen Geld und Talente". derStandard.at. 14 February 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  30. ^ "A Multinational Team Bands Together To Create Ori And The Blind Forest". Game Informer. 22 December 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Mahler