Moon Studios, the developer behind the Ori series and the upcoming action RPG No Rest for the Wicked, has announced that it is now "fully independent" after purchasing the publishing rights to its next game from the recently sold Private Division.

In a new YouTube update on No Rest for the Wicked's next patch, studio co-founders Thomas Mahler and Gennadiy Korol confessed that Take-Two's sale of Private Division was "unexpected news", but the team saw it as an "opportunity". Having negotiated with the former publisher, Moon Studios was able to buy NRFTW's publishing rights, granting the studio full independence.

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"Moon Studios is now fully independent," Mahler said in the recent video, "we believe this will give you even more confidence in our vision because we're free to build No Rest for the Wicked exactly how we want, without needing to ever go silent again".

No Rest was launched on Steam early access last April, where it has since gone on to gather "Mostly Positive" reviews across various hotfixes and updates. While nothing is confirmed for Switch at the moment, Mahler mooted the idea of a Switch 2 release shortly after the console's announcement, asking if Moon Studios fans would be keen to see the team's next title on the upcoming hybrid — uhhh, yeah!

It remains to be seen exactly what full independence means for the Ori dev, though the promise of being able to build No Rest without compromise is an exciting prospect.

As a reminder, Take-Two Interactive sold off Private Division to an "undisclosed buyer" (presumed to be Texas-based firm Haveli Investments) last year, claiming it was shifting its focus to its "core businesses for the long term". In a plot twist that nobody saw coming, the publisher's entire portfolio was reportedly later picked up by a new studio founded by former Annapurna Interactive staff.

While this new team now own the distribution rights to the likes of Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game and Game Freak's 'Project Bloom', it seems that No Rest for the Wicked is off the table.

Are you pleased to hear that Moon Studios has gone fully independent? Do you want to see No Rest for the Wicked on Switch 2? Let us know in the comments.

[source youtube.com]