Ori series creator Thomas Mahler has pushed back on the latest Ori 3 rumors after Gamescom chatter spread around a reported Saber Interactive project. Here is what is confirmed, what is claimed, and why fans should wait for an official announcement.
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Ori 3 chatter hit a wall when Thomas Mahler called it “nonsense”
The latest Ori 3 rumors have been publicly challenged by the person most closely associated with the series’ identity. Thomas Mahler, CEO of Moon Studios and director of the Ori games, wrote on X that he could “confirm that the Ori 3 rumors are nonsense,” according to Eurogamer, Insider Gaming, DualShockers, Press Start, and other outlets covering his posts.
That denial landed after several days of speculation that a new Ori game could be in development, possibly with a reveal tied to Gamescom. The tension is obvious: Ori is one of Xbox’s most beloved modern platforming properties, Moon Studios is no longer building its immediate future around the series, and the rumor trail points to a possible project outside Moon rather than a classic Moon Studios Ori sequel.
For now, there is no announced Ori sequel. Microsoft has not revealed a new Ori game in the source material provided. Saber Interactive has not been quoted confirming involvement. Moon Studios has not announced a return to Ori. The only concrete new development is Mahler’s public rejection of the current claims, paired with his admission that the subject of another Ori has come up inside Moon’s orbit.
What sparked the latest Ori sequel rumor cycle
The spark appears to have come from forum and insider chatter that grew into Gamescom expectations. Eurogamer reports that rumors about a new entry in the Metroidvania series seemed to originate from a ResetEra post before spreading across social platforms. Insider Gaming and DualShockers describe the claim more specifically: a ResetEra forum post suggested that one of Saber Interactive’s teams was developing a new Ori game, with a possible reveal window ranging from Gamescom to a later Xbox Developer Direct.
My Nintendo News added another layer on August 23, reporting that leaker NateTheHate said “a new Ori is what I was referring to” and that he did not yet have confirmation on whether it would appear at Gamescom. The outlet framed the claim as a new Ori game being in development, while also noting that both Ori and the Blind Forest and Ori and the Will of the Wisps eventually came to Nintendo Switch.
That combination was enough to make the rumor feel plausible to fans: an Xbox-owned series with dormant brand heat, a major showcase week, and a named third-party studio allegedly attached. But plausibility is not confirmation. In the current record, the Saber element remains a forum-linked claim reported by outlets, and the Gamescom angle is explicitly uncertain even in the NateTheHate quote cited by My Nintendo News.
Mahler’s response denies the rumor but leaves one important caveat
Mahler’s clearest statement is the one being widely quoted: “I can confirm that the Ori 3 rumors are nonsense,” as reported by Eurogamer and Insider Gaming. He also said composer Gareth Coker, who worked on the Ori series, had visited while recording the No Rest for the Wicked soundtrack in Vienna and asked whether Moon would be ready to make another Ori. Mahler quoted Coker as saying, “It’s time.”
That detail is emotionally potent, especially for a series defined as much by Coker’s music and Moon’s animation timing as by its escape sequences and traversal. It does not confirm a game. It confirms that people tied to the original creative fabric still think about Ori.
In a separate post covered by Insider Gaming and DualShockers, Mahler said he had not heard anything about Microsoft reviving the franchise and added that Moon Studios had internally discussed interest in purchasing the Ori IP back. Insider Gaming quotes him as saying that “it makes sense for this one to come home to Moon.”
The caveat is business-side reality. If Microsoft owns the Ori IP, as the coverage around Mahler’s buyback comments indicates, a project could theoretically exist without Moon’s involvement. Press Start notes uncertainty around where Mahler’s information is coming from given his publicly strained relationship with Xbox. That does not make the rumor true. It simply means Mahler’s denial is strongest as a denial of the specific rumors he is addressing and of Moon’s apparent involvement, while Microsoft remains the party that would need to confirm any Xbox-led Ori revival.
Moon Studios’ current path is No Rest for the Wicked, not Ori
The other confirmed piece of the story is Moon Studios’ present focus. Eurogamer reports that Moon’s work has been centered on No Rest for the Wicked, the studio’s action RPG that entered Early Access in 2024 and is scheduled to reach 1.0 in October for PC and PS5. The outlet also says the game launched shakily but has since earned a very positive Steam player review score through consistent gameplay improvements and major updates.
That matters because an Ori sequel from Moon would not be a small pivot. Ori and the Will of the Wisps was a highly crafted platforming adventure built around expressive movement, layered combat upgrades, dense biomes, and technical presentation that pushed hard enough to stumble at launch. Eurogamer recalls that Will of the Wisps launched in 2020 for Xbox One and PC in a rough technical state, even while being received as a strong Metroidvania.
No Rest for the Wicked is a different design problem: an action RPG with slower commitment, loot pressure, animation priority, and long-term systems tuning. If Moon is still preparing that game’s 1.0 release, the studio’s bandwidth and public messaging point toward that project rather than a secret Ori sequel. Press Start also reports that No Rest for the Wicked is expected in October on PC and PlayStation, and says Mahler has stated it will skip Xbox at launch due to “market conditions.” That platform note further underlines how complicated a Moon-led Ori return would be under the current Xbox relationship.
The series history explains why fans are quick to believe a new Ori game
Ori speculation keeps catching because the two released games left a very specific gap in the platformer landscape. Moon Studios Ori became shorthand for painterly worldbuilding, razor-clean wall jumps, bash chains, escape set pieces, and a difficulty curve that asked players to learn flow rather than simply endure punishment. For fans of precision platformers and Metroidvanias, few Xbox-published games have carried that same handmade-feeling mix of movement and melancholy.
The release history also leaves room for platform speculation. Eurogamer states that Ori and the Will of the Wisps launched in 2020 for Xbox One and PC, and that the series later came to Nintendo Switch but has not come to PS5. My Nintendo News similarly points out that both Ori games came to Switch, which is why it speculated that any new entry would hopefully reach Nintendo Switch 2. That is an expectation from the outlet, not a platform announcement.
There is a small dating wrinkle in the coverage. Eurogamer refers to Ori and the Blind Forest as a 2017 game, while GameBastion’s sourced article describes Ori and the Blind Forest as a 2015 title and Ori and the Will of the Wisps as a 2020 title. The broader confirmed sequence is unchanged across the reporting: Blind Forest came first, Will of the Wisps followed, and no third Ori game has been announced.
Treat the current new Ori game claims as unconfirmed until Xbox speaks
The practical guidance for fans is simple: do not plan around Ori 3 until there is an official announcement from Microsoft, Xbox, Moon Studios, or any developer publicly attached to the project. The current claims are a chain of rumor, forum discussion, and insider commentary, followed by a direct public denial from Mahler.
Confirmed: Mahler called the Ori 3 rumors nonsense, said he had not heard about Microsoft reviving the franchise, and said Moon has internally discussed interest in buying the IP back, according to multiple outlets quoting his X posts. Also confirmed by the same reporting: Moon is working toward No Rest for the Wicked’s 1.0 release rather than announcing an Ori sequel.
Unconfirmed: that Saber Interactive is making an Ori game, that Xbox will reveal an Ori sequel at Gamescom, that a later Developer Direct will include Ori, that the project would come to Switch 2, or that Moon Studios is involved. Those ideas may be circulating, but the provided source material does not include a publisher announcement, store listing, trailer, ratings-board entry, release date, price, or platform list.
Ori fans are right to be curious. A new Ori game would be a major moment for platformer players, especially if it preserved the feel that made Blind Forest and Will of the Wisps so memorable. But the current story is not the return of Ori. It is a rumor cycle colliding with the series creator’s denial, and until Xbox or another rights holder puts a real title on a real stage, the safest read is that Ori 3 remains unannounced.