Ori developer Moon says its next game could ‘make or break’ the studio

The head of Moon Studios has said its next game could “make or break” the company.

Following 2015’s Ori and the Blind Forest and 2020’s Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Moon’s third game is an action RPG set to be published by Private Division.

Posting on Twitter, Moon Studios CEO and game director Thomas Mahler said the studio had no plans to play it safe with the upcoming game.

“Our next project is going to be a make-or-break moment for Moon,” he wrote.

“Either we manage to revolutionize the ARPG genre or we’ll slowly fade away into the distance.

“While that should be scary, I LOVE the challenge! Diablo, PoE, etc.: We’re coming for you, may the best one win!”

Mahler also confirmed that the game will have a top-down camera perspective.

Moon was formed in 2010 by Mahler (a former cinematic artist at Blizzard Entertainment) and Gennadiy Korol (a former senior graphics engineer at Animation Lab).

“Developing the Ori series over the last decade has been a fantastic experience for our team, and we’re thrilled to now be aiming our sights even higher with a new action RPG,” the pair said in 2020 when it was announced that Private Division would be publishing the game.

“We attribute our success to the ‘iterative polish’ process we use at Moon Studios, and we’re continuing that style of development to create a new game that rises above anything we’ve created thus far.”

A job advert for a game designer posted in late 2019 first revealed that Moon was working on an action RPG.

It called for experience playing titles such as Diablo, Zelda and Dark Souls, and claimed that the opportunity would offer the successful candidate the chance “to work on an RPG that dares to innovate and go far beyond what the genre has offered players thus far.”