When Game Dev Drama Spills Onto Your Feed
No Rest for the Wicked is a visually striking action roguelike that has caught the attention of many PC gamers. Early impressions suggest it has real potential, with deep combat and a unique tone that sets it apart from most dungeon crawlers.
Instead of the spotlight staying on the game itself, however, much of the recent conversation has been dominated by a public argument between its project lead and studio CEO Thomas Mahler and former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra. The whole situation played out on X and has sparked plenty of discussion among players.
At the center of it all is a simple question: how should developers talk about other games, especially giant names like Diablo and Path of Exile, when trying to promote their own?
No Rest for the Wicked vs Diablo: How It Started
The latest flare up began when Thomas Mahler tried to position No Rest for the Wicked as a place for skilled players to prove themselves. On X he essentially said that anyone can look good in Diablo 4 or Path of Exile 2, but if you really want to show skill you should try No Rest for the Wicked.
That kind of comment naturally rubbed some people the wrong way, including Mike Ybarra, who previously served as president of Blizzard. Ybarra replied that putting down other games to promote your own is not a great look, and suggested Mahler let his game stand on its own quality.
Interestingly, the article points out that Ybarra himself has not always followed that advice. Back in late 2024 he publicly dunked on Marvel Rivals by calling it an Overwatch knockoff. So there is a bit of irony in him now criticizing someone else for taking shots at other games. Still, he framed his response to Mahler as more of a caution than an attack, and even said he was excited to check out the progress on No Rest for the Wicked.
From there, though, the conversation escalated well beyond a simple marketing misstep.
Diablo, Microtransactions, And The Bigger Argument
Mahler doubled down by going after the modern state of Diablo. He praised Diablo 2 as an all time classic that helped define what western developers could do, then argued that Diablo today has been turned into a microtransaction driven slot machine. He pointed to expensive cosmetic items like the much mocked premium horse as an example.
His bigger point was that executives who approve these monetization decisions should take responsibility for what they do to beloved franchises instead of celebrating themselves. In other words, he was criticizing the direction of big budget live service games and the corporate mindset behind them.
The article notes some nuance around that infamous Diablo 4 horse: it was effectively attached to a big chunk of premium currency rather than being a standalone sixty five dollar horse. That does not suddenly make Diablo 4’s shop beloved, but it adds context to a talking point that often gets repeated without detail.
Ybarra’s response focused less on defending Diablo’s microtransactions and more on how Mahler was presenting his game. He told Mahler he can critique other games all he wants, but that running around trashing Diablo and Path of Exile as a way of pushing players toward No Rest for the Wicked is, in his words, stupid. He framed it as coming from a place of desperation and suggested Mahler should focus his energy on his game and his team instead.
While both sides clearly threw punches, the piece argues that in this particular exchange Ybarra ended up sounding relatively reasonable, especially for someone with his own history of hot takes on social media. The most reasonable thing would have been not to fight on X at all, but once the argument started he mostly tried to redirect things back to professionalism.
Why This Matters To PC Gamers
The drama culminated in a pointed sign off from Ybarra. He reminded Mahler that he does not have to work anymore, while Mahler does, and warned that future partners will read these threads and understand who they are dealing with. That is a pretty stark way of saying that public behavior can follow you around the industry.
The article zooms out from there. It notes that Mahler has a history of online controversy and calling people out, sometimes in ways that feel aligned with culture war style pile ons. That is frustrating to some players and writers because No Rest for the Wicked itself is a genuinely promising game. The more its lead turns every conversation into a public fight, the harder it becomes for some people to separate the game from the discourse around it.
For PC gamers, this whole saga touches on a few themes:
- Game quality versus dev behavior Many players want to judge a game just by how it plays, but constant public drama can make that difficult.
- Marketing by comparison Calling out bigger games like Diablo and Path of Exile might get attention, but it risks alienating potential players who enjoy those titles.
- Ongoing concern about monetization Criticism of Diablo 4’s shop shows how sensitive the community still is to aggressive cosmetics and premium currency bundles.
- Social media as a minefield High profile devs and executives going at it online can easily overshadow the hard work of the teams actually building these games.
The writer ends on a personal note: they would probably be interested in No Rest for the Wicked on its gameplay merits alone, but are now turned off by the way its CEO keeps stirring controversy. It is a reminder that in the PC gaming space your public persona does not just affect your reputation with investors or publishers. It can also change whether players want to give your game a chance at all.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/no-rest-for-the-wicked-lead-spends-new-years-eve-picking-a-fight-with-former-blizzard-president-mike-ybarra-over-diablo-4-who-points-out-you-need-to-chill/
