Ori Director Thomas Mahler Thoughtfully Responds to Kotaku Writer’s Insult

Video Games

You know the saying, “Kill ‘em with kindness?” Yesterday, a video game developer tried just that, and on the volatile landscape of social media, no less. Thomas Mahler is the CEO of Moon Studios and the director of Ori and the Blind Forest, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and the upcoming No Rest for the Wicked. In June, an X user called Quelaag introduced herself as “Ray” and said she worked in the gaming industry, citing Ori and the Will of the Wisps with a picture as one of the games she was a part of. A few days ago, she posted a thread decrying the aversion to DEI consulting firms like Sweet Baby Inc., calling the “discourse” surrounding them “BULLSHIT” and admonishing anyone who doesn’t like them to “SHUT THE FUCK UP!” (The caps are hers, so you know she’s right without looking into anything.) She then claimed that DEI consultants do not bully studios into hiring them, despite Sweet Baby Inc. CEO Kim Belair publicly bragging about it and encouraging woke video game industry employees to help them do so. (Images courtesy of That Park Place, since “Ray” blocks her posts from non-followers. Thanks also to Mark Kern for collecting her thread in a series of screenshots.)

The cope in this thread is insane.

Games that cater to gamers sell incredibly well. Wukong outperformed Ubisoft’s best AC series in a month.

The rest of it is ad hominem insults and seething:

– You’re an incel, stop bodybuilding to hide the fact that people hate you.

– You… https://t.co/nmpVbMX6GK pic.twitter.com/cFjkziNqgF

— Grummz (@Grummz) October 4, 2024

Yesterday, Thomas Mahler commented on her initial post asking in what capacity she worked on Ori and the Will of the Wisps since he is the director of that game and doesn’t know who she is. “Ray” responded that she worked for Xbox User Research, where she was the URA for global publishing. (I’m finding about a million possible meanings for the URA acronym; I assume the U and the R stand for “User” and “Research.”)  Mahler replied that he accepted her answer and that it would explain why he’d never met her. He then said he wanted to clarify that she had no connection to Moon Studios because she was being so hostile and insulting, admonishing her to be nice to people with whom she disagrees. You can imagine how well that went over:

That could explain it

I didn’t want to cause you any trouble – I just saw you posting that you worked on Ori and I had no idea who you are.

Since you’re calling people names online, I thought it was important to inform people that you never actually worked for Moon Studios…

— thomasmahler (@thomasmahler) October 9, 2024

She’s even calling Thomas a liar lmfao the fkn GALL pic.twitter.com/TDpe2sr3OV

— Nate Hodibrey (@DjinnBartimaeus) October 9, 2024

What happened next is the best part. Alyssa Mercante, the writer for Kotaku who infiltrated the Sweet Baby Inc. Detected Discord server, threatened anyone who doesn’t like DEI, backed out of the only challenge she got on that threat, harassed Smash JT host Jeff Tarzia’s wife, and later sent a cease and desist letter to Jeff (in answer to which he hired Ron Coleman), jumped in and called Mahler a “dickhead.” Why? Why does she do anything? I’m sure simply disagreeing with one of her ideological comrades was more than enough reason to insult him for his rational attempt to distance himself from someone who was insulting parts of his audience.  Whatever the case, she was being her usual charming self, and after delivering a Thanos line (minus the “even”), Mercante shared a snippet of what is presumably an article she wrote that criticized him. Instead of hitting back hard, Mahler decided to respond thoughtfully and in detail:

I don’t know who you are.

— thomasmahler (@thomasmahler) October 9, 2024

Hey Alyssa,

You’re apparently a journalist from Kotaku – So I’m guessing you haven’t worked in actual game development yet.

Let me try to explain the thing you posted about, which I’m guessing was from that hitpiece from a few years back.

Yes, I’m guilty of what’s stated in…

— thomasmahler (@thomasmahler) October 9, 2024

That’s pretty funny. While it’s polite and respectful, Thomas Mahler’s response to Mercante essentially explains that she doesn’t know what she’s talking about in terms of how video games are developed. And what he says makes a lot of sense; why wouldn’t the director have total control of the game? If he thinks something isn’t working, he changes or scraps it, and the same goes for anyone working on the game that he thinks is a bad fit for whatever reason. He’d be irresponsible if he didn’t do this, and since his two released games were so well-received, he must’ve done something right. The best part of Mahler’s response may be when he points out that her own article quoting the people he let go as they badmouth him and his studio proves his instincts about them to have been correct. Of course, this almost certainly fell on deaf ears because Mercante isn’t looking for any kind of dialogue; she’s just being an internet tough guy. But to a lot of people reading – and, hopefully, to Mahler – it was satisfying.

Let us know what you think of Thomas Mahler’s responses to “Ray” and Alyssa Mercante in the comments!

***

Get Your Geeks + Gamers merch here!