Perdebatan sengit antara Thomas Mahler, pimpinan Moon Studios yang dikenal lewat gim Ori, dan Mike Ybarra, mantan Presiden Blizzard Entertainment, memanas di media sosial pada akhir Desember 2025. Mahler melontarkan kritik tajam terhadap kondisi waralaba Diablo di bawah kepemimpinan Ybarra, menuduh adanya “kerusakan tak terpulihkan” akibat kebijakan monetisasi. Ybarra pun tak tinggal diam, membalas dengan sindiran pedas yang menarik perhatian komunitas gim.
Awal Mula Ketegangan di Media Sosial
Ketegangan bermula pada 30 Desember 2025, ketika Mahler mempromosikan gim action RPG terbarunya, No Rest for the Wicked. Dalam unggahannya yang ditujukan kepada para streamer, ia menulis, “Kita semua tahu siapa pun bisa terlihat bagus di Diablo 4 atau PoE2. Apakah Anda benar-benar ingin menunjukkan kepada audiens bahwa Anda punya keterampilan? Coba No Rest for the Wicked.”
Liputan informatif lainnya tersedia di Mureks. mureks.co.id
Ybarra merespons pada hari yang sama, berargumen, “Putting down other games for your own games sake doesn’t really work. Let your game stand on its own two feet.” Pengguna lain menyarankan agar pengembang di Moon Studios lebih baik “menggunakan energi mereka untuk menyelesaikan gim [daripada] menargetkan gim lain.” Mahler bersikeras bahwa ia “just teasing a little.”
Ketika ada yang menyebut No Rest for the Wicked memiliki “worst performance,” Mahler membalas, “Real men got good machines at home. Either that or you play those PBR’d cheap mocap games that look like they were made by students.”
Kritik Pedas Mahler Terhadap Diablo dan Ybarra
Pada 31 Desember, Mahler melancarkan serangan lebih lanjut. “Mike, real talk: You were put in charge of Diablo and you didn’t treat it with the respect it deserved,” katanya dalam serangkaian unggahan baru. “Diablo used to mean something. Diablo 2 was an utter masterpiece and showed the whole world what western developers could do. You OK’d turning Diablo into a MTX slot machine where people can buy horse armor for 65$.”
Mureks mencatat bahwa horse armor yang dimaksud adalah bagian dari paket mata uang seharga 65 dolar AS yang diluncurkan Blizzard awal tahun itu. Kosmetik kuda tersebut secara teknis gratis dengan pembelian paket, namun seluruh bundel tersebut merupakan strategi penetapan harga microtransaction yang terang-terangan dan dikritik keras oleh komunitas gim.
“It’s time that executives stop patting themselves on the back after ruining beloved franchises and accept some personal responsibility,” tambah Mahler, merujuk pada kutipan Ybarra sebelumnya yang mengatakan, “I’m not sure where Diablo is going.”
“Games used to be better before all this crap happened and that’s just sad,” Mahler menegaskan dalam balasan lain. Ia juga menambahkan, “This Toxic Positivity stuff is for the birds. If you make a bad game, you should feel bad about it and there shouldn’t be a bunch of people that congratulate you for an awful job well done.”
Balasan Menohok dari Mike Ybarra
Ybarra, yang terkejut dengan serangan tersebut, tidak bisa menahan diri untuk membalas. “You can critique other games all you want,” katanya. “But running around putting down Diablo and Path of Exile begging people to play your game is stupid. And that is my point. You know it’s stupid as well. I get your desperate at this point, but I’d focus on your game and not D4 and Path.”
Mahler kemudian merespons, menegaskan “respect”-nya kepada pengembang Path of Exile 2, Grinding Gear Games. Ia berargumen, “If Blizzard would’ve done their jobs right,” maka mereka tidak akan kehilangan “the ARPG crown” kepada “tiny Australian studio.”
“I don’t know that a developer pointing out that squeezing gamers with nasty MTX tricks ‘is stupid’. How in the world are you justifying that there’s a 65$ horse skin in DIABLO?” tulis Mahler. “You were in charge when Blizzard made Diablo Immortal and Diablo 4. You are responsible. And both have done irreparable damage to the Diablo franchise we used to know and love. I’m guessing that’s why you got booted and are now the head of some gambling company, Mike. So please don’t lecture me on games. I probably forgot more about game design than you will ever know.”
Ybarra pun masih memiliki amunisi. “I don’t have to work anymore. You do,” balasnya tajam. “Just like Xbox’s experience in working with you on Ori – all your future partners read this and understand what they are getting involved with. Good luck. I do really wish you and the team the best. You need to chill and focus on your team and your game. I hope it’s successful.”
Sebagai penutup, Mahler mengingatkan Ybarra bahwa “we’re independent” dan “not reliant on any publisher,” bertanya apakah itu “hard to grasp for people who never worked at private companies and have only experienced the corporate world.”
“Not sure why you needed to tell me that you don’t have to work anymore, but that I do?” tambahnya. “I work because I love my job, because we want to make amazing games for players, not because someone is forcing me to. And I don’t know if pointing out that you got a golden handshake after getting fired for your tenure at Blizzard makes you look particularly great either… Anyway, no hard feelings.”
Sebagai informasi, menurut laporan Game Developer pada Januari 2024, Ybarra meninggalkan Blizzard dalam kondisi yang tidak jelas di tengah PHK yang lebih luas di bawah Microsoft. Ia kemudian menjabat sebagai CEO Prizepicks, sebuah aplikasi olahraga fantasi.
