Wonder Works Studio

Wonder Works Studio is a group on Roblox owned by (formerly ) primarily known for creating the experiences, Overlook RP and Traitor. The group is operated by a game development company based in Arlington, Texas, which was co-founded by Megan and Zach Letter, of which Zach Letter is the acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company.AviatorGaming (2021, November 16) We're looking for people to work in our office in Arlington, Texas. We're willing to pay for relocation and help you get setup in the Lonestar state! If you're interested, please link your linkedIn and portfolio! [Tweet].
A list of all developers currently employed at Wonder Works Studio can be found on their website. Kevin Perry, Joe Jurbala, and Tyson Letter act as the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Chief Business Officer (CBO), and Chief Content Officer (CCO) respectively. Furthermore, Abbigail Ely, Kathleen Malone Preston, Everett Bradford, and Andy Farley are the Chief of Staff, Director of People Operations, Supervisor, 3D Art, and Supervisor of Production respectively.
Wonder Works Studio owns several separate groups which have been used to house individual experiences developed by the them, along with sponsored experiences. These groups include and Soulless Horror, notable for creating TIMMEH and POOH!. Wonder Works Studio also directly owns the Roblox group and which house 14 and 4 experiences respectively.
== Experiences ==
=== Overlook RP ===
Overlook RP (formerly Overlook Bay) was released in May 2020 as a paid access game that cost 25 Robux to access, and subsequently went free to play. It is a Roblox experience based around the fictional town of Overlook Bay where players can adopt pets, own and customize houses, and participate in social activities such as fishing and mining.
Overlook Bay received a major overhaul on December 17, 2021, in the form of the 'Overlook RP' update, often referred to as the 'Overlook Bay 2' update. Prior to the update, the game was set to private on December 15, 2021, and the game's name was temporarily switched to 'Goodbye Overlook Bay! [Countdown]'.WonderWorksRB (2021, December 15) It begins! Dark mode initiate... [Tweet].Overlook Bay on Roblox (2021, December 15). Archived. The downtime was the second time that Wonder Works Studio had delayed the Overlook Bay 2 update, the first time being on December 7, 2021.WonderWorksRB (2021, December 8) We're delaying the release of Overlook RP to Tuesday, December 14th. [Tweet]. Upon entering the game during downtime, players only saw a countdown that counted down the time until the Overlook Bay 2 update, as well as a link to Froot Loops World, the promotional experience created by Wonder Works Studio for Kellogg's North America. 
Much of the promised features that were to be added to the game alongside the major update were delayed indefinitely, only for most of them to never be added.
* The replacement to the previously 'Sponge Rob' pet was scheduled to be released alongside the update but was not released until a week after;
* Voice acting was not added to the game until January 26, 2022;
* The farming and cooking skills were to be added alongside the update but they got delayed till the first quarter of 2022. However, they are not in the game to this date;AviatorGaming (2021, December 18) We're implementing the Roleplay features by Tuesday and adding all of the holiday items as well. In January we'll be adding more roleplay features, a season pass and a junk yard. We'll also be adding new skill like farming and cooking in Q1! [Tweet].
* The season pass was delayed until January 19, 2022.WonderWorksRB (2022, January 19) A new update has arrived to Overlook RP! The first ever Season Pass is here and it comes with a GODLY reward! We've also added back the shark, boats and fixed many bugs! [Tweet]. Archived from the original on January 19.
* The Junkyard location was added to the game, however, it was not functional. It only became functional on January 12, 2022.
* The Auction House was never added to the game.
The update was termed by most as 'unnecessary' and was detrimental to the popularity of the game. The removal of core features, most prominently the Arcadia Isle area combined with a large number of delays drew a large amount of criticism from the community, with players citing the lack of content and polish in the game.Oliver71475412 (2021, December 18) But when we joined the game I was expecting a lot more to come with it. I know we have some stuff to do but I kinda have to agree with cowmingo here like I know you will be adding all these items but we just have to wait more and more. I have no idea if I am right but just my Opn [Tweet]. Players were also not expecting the game to switch its focus to online roleplay.AbbyRob1ox (2021, December 18) No one wanted Roleplay! This was supposed to be a game about the pets!!! Super disappointed!!! [Tweet].
The 2021 Holiday Event was also released alongside the update and contained several faulty transactions that charged players but did not award them the respective item(s).Overlook Bay on Roblox, an hour before the Overlook RP update (2021, December 17). Archived.WonderWorksRB (2021, December 17) Everyone who bought a Mythic Pet before our fix, we'll hand gift you everyone that you purchased shortly!. [Tweet] Archived from the original on December 17.
The failure of the Overlook RP update led to Wonder Works Studio 'rolling back' the Overlook RP update on August 13, 2022, by re-creating the old experience in a new Roblox place while retaining the place containing Overlook RP.WonderWorksRB teasing the return of Overlook Bay (2022, August 11) Attention all residents of #Overlookbay Get ready to relive the nostalgia of your favorite bay! Overlook Bay is returning VERY VERY SOON! [Tweet].WonderWorksRB announcing the return of Overlook Bay (2022, August 13) Welcome back all residents of #OverlookBay! We missed you! Jump back to the Bay and relive all the great memories RIGHT NOW! OVERLOOK BAY RELAUNCH IS LIVE NOW! [Tweet] Although all passes featured in Overlook RP were functional in the new Overlook Bay, most of the players' data was not transferred over as promised.WonderWorksRB (2022, August 2) WAIT, what's happening with old Overlook Bay saved data?!ItzMeMarvin1 (2022, August 13) I'm currently confused.... do we get our old pets from the previous overlook bay? cause I dont ahve my old pets nor vehicles..... I have event pets too [Tweet].DARKSOU37664452 (2022, August 13) Most of my pets is not in my inventory im confuse [Tweet]. This frequent issue of data loss experienced by players led to Wonder Works Studio temporarily shutting down the game on August 13, 2022.WonderWorksRB (2022, August 13) Attention Citizens of Overlook Bay. We temporarily have shutdown Overlook Bay to ensure we can recover everyone's data. There is a small bug that we're busy working through. We'll update you all when the Bay goes live! [Tweet]. The new experience was a replica of Overlook Bay prior to the Overlook RP update.
On September 17, 2022, Wonder Works Studio announced an exclusive vinyl album comprising the soundtrack of Overlook Bay that could be purchased by customers in exchange for an exclusive pet in Overlook Bay.WonderWorksRB (2022, September 17) We’re releasing a vinyl album! The Original Game Soundtrack to Overlook Bay will soon be available to stream, download, and OWN ON VINYL!!! [Tweet].WonderWorksRB (2022, September 17) Anyone who gets the vinyl album from the Wonder Works Music store will receive an invite to an exclusive Discord channel on 11/4/2022 — where you can claim a limited-time-only Overlook Bay pet and Discord emote. [Tweet]. This announcement was met with critical responses from players that had had their data wiped in Overlook Bay. The only fix offered by Wonder Works Studio to this problem required the players to join their Discord server.ha_onax (2022, September 17) I was playing today and suddenly lost all the jam, level, and pets, and the game became impossible to play. I liked Overlook Bay for a long time, but now I can't play anymore, so I'm so sad. Please solve this and restore my inventory, level, and jam again [Tweet]. After the fix, the game's data bugged out again, which was acknowledged by Wonder Works Studio on October 4, 2022.WonderWorksRB (2022, September 28) We're shutting down Overlook Bay's servers for maintenance, we're trying to solve this data issue! We hope to get OB back up as soon as possible! We also have some good news too! Everyone is going to get a new exclusive pet when they return! [Tweet]WonderWorksRB (2022, October 4) We thought we fixed the previous issues but after a larger sample size of players we’ve encountered more errors. Our Dev team is working hard to find these issues and we’ll keep you updated! [Tweet].
==== Spin-offs ====
North Pole Friends is an experience developed by Wonder Works Studio that comprises the North Pole area featured during Overlook Bay's first Holiday event, in 2020.WonderWorksRB (2022, December 3) Our new game North Pole Friends just released! [Tweet].WonderWorksRB (2022, November 15) We're working on a NEW GAME for the holiday season, with assets that many of you may be familiar with! [Tweet].
=== Traitor ===
Traitor was a project undertaken by Wonder Works Studio which they developed in about 3 weeks, referred to as 'a successful test of their ability to quickly enter a new genre and take share with higher-quality production'.Case study: Our team built Traitor in 3 weeks, a successful test of our ability to quickly enter a new genre and take share with higher-quality production. Like many of our experiences, Traitor leveraged our influencer expertise to drive new player growth. We build virality into all of our content and our Traitor influencer tournaments generated 4M+ views on YouTube and 18M+ visits to the game. [Website]. Allegedly, Traitor had a problem with visibility in Roblox searches, which was highlighted by MeganPlays on Twitter.MeganPlays (2021, January 27) Hey @Roblox can someone over there please help our game “traitor” get into the search. It’s been released for a few weeks, and has 6.3M visits but it never comes up in the search (it does, just 300 games down) the team works so hard [Tweet].
=== Shimmerville ===
=== POOH ===
=== Anime Odyssey ===
Anime Odyssey is a Roblox experience developed by Wonder Works Studio under one of their proprietary groups, 'CodeWarriors'.HolidayPwner (2023, July 21) For months, the WWS Art team and I experimented with many unique art styles last year, but we ended up with a more stylized approach for Anime Odyssey! Designing these hack-n-slash environments was a blast! [Tweet].
== Sponsored experiences ==
=== Insomniac World Party ===
Insomniac World Party is an experience developed by Wonder Works Studio that released in 2021 as an official Roblox event. This experience comprises the recreation of four EDC Las Vegas festival stages. The experience features assets from Overlook Bay, such as pets, personal vehicles, like goals, several buildings and quality of life features, etc. Many of the features from the Insomniac World Party event were implemented into Overlook Bay as a part of the 'Overlook RP' update.
=== Froot Loops World ===
Froot Loops World was an advertisement developed by Wonder Works Studio for Kellogg's of North America. Although anyone could have joined the experience, only the players residing in the United States were allowed into the game.
=== Forever 21 Shop City ===
=== David Guetta DJ Party ===
=== Puma and the Land of Games ===
== Reception ==
=== Stolen clothing ===
The clothing items created by Wonder Works Studio as part of clothing brand Forever 21's first release on Roblox as part of their collaborative "Shop City" experience used stolen shading templates from Kestrel designers. After designers on Twitter shared this claim, most notably cSapphire,cSapphireCS (2021, December 16) Forever 21 just released a collab on Roblox and I was disappointed to see that the clothes used stolen shading from Google on multiple items [Tweet]. Wonder Works Studio replied to cSapphire's tweet on the matter [response tweet deleted], falsely claiming the shading was not stolen but that they would take the items offsale. Wonder Works Studio later deleted their response. Afterwards, Wonder Works Studio hired cSapphire and other clothing creators to create original clothing for their first collaboration, and have continued to hire original creators to make the content for their future original Forever 21 releases.
=== Treatment of employees ===
Many small YouTubers and Roblox players raised their voices against Wonder Works Studio with regards to their reviews on Glassdoor.YT_Lifey (2022, September 8) I'm disgusted. WWS employees have spoken up to share how they've been treated. I'm shocked to read these and see women feel they don't have a voice in the workplace and are discriminated. These employees need to be heard! WWS is a disgusting company ran by an awful CEO. [Tweet]. Allegations against Wonder Works Studio included the tendency of the company to hire new talent and burn them out with tasks, misogyny within the management team, unexpected layoffs despite employees being told 'the company had enough funding to last a few years'Follow the Money: Fort Worth Biotech Raises $16M, VC Firm Raises $25M for Debut Fund, S2 Capital Surpasses Blackstone as Region’s Most Active Multifamily Investor, and More (from ), 'Video Game Developer Raises $5.53M' section: "Wonder Works Studios, an Arlington-based developer of immersive gaming experiences, reported raising more than $5.5 million in two separate SEC Filings. In one, the creator of titles like “Overlook RP” and “TIMMEH” reported raising $2.7 million in options and securities from seven investors. In another, Wonder Works reported raising $2.83 million in options and securities from 10 investors out of a $5 million offering. Developing games on the Roblox platform, Wonder Works was formed in 2019 by Zach and Megan Letter. According to LinkedIn, the company has around 60 employees." [Article].U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (filings): (from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's archives), heavy reliance on their public image, fear of being reprimanded amongst employees, issues related to project allotment and meeting deadlines, and micromanagement by company higher-ups in fields they have no experience in. Wonder Works Studio had also allegedly fabricated reviews in defiance of Glassdoor's policies, which was the reason why they formerly had a 100% CEO approval rating and majorly 5-star reviews.Do NOT TRUST the GOOD reviews by an anonymous employee on Glassdoor.YT_Lifey (2022, September 8) These reviews were found on Glass Door and there are many more on other websites. Reviews have been posted on Google, but removed. Followed by fake 5 star reviews to make the company look better/something they're not. [Tweet]
This development led to Wonder Works Studio's Twitter handle gaining a large number of replies from concerned fans, who were eventually blocked from viewing Wonder Works Studio's tweets.AstroGamesRB (2022, September 8) WWS BLOCKED ME FOR SAYING WHAT HAD TO BE SAID! [Tweet].JeremyV87529663 (2022, September 8) They blocked me they don't want other people to know what they did disgusting we have to spread this everywhere [Tweet]. The claim was officialized when Wonder Works Studio responded to these complaints and released a statement claiming that 'seeing those statements took them by surprise', and they 'would take them very seriously to ensure that they provide a safe and inclusive workplace for all'.WonderWorksRB (2022,September 8) To see these statements, has completely taken us by surprise. However, we're taking them very seriously and want to ensure that we provide a safe and inclusive workspace for all [Tweet]. The official statement was as follows:
: "We'd like to address the reviews on our Glassdoor that have come around over the last 3 days. At Wonder Works nearly 60% of our staff are women, we're co-founded by a woman and 50% of our middle management team are women."WonderWorksRB (2022, September 8) Statement. [Tweet].
As stated by an anonymous former employee, Wonder Works Studio offers fast promotions despite no proper support or training, and makes their employees change their discipline to different areas by granting them an ultimatum to either take up a new discipline or be let go as they removed 'unneeded roles' from the team. The CEO and the upper-management, apart from the COO are often regarded as 'not being experienced in the game development field' and allegedly 'asked developers to teach them about games'.Anonymous former employee: Review on Glassdoor. These claims are supported by previous claims regarding layoffs during the holidays. Wonder Works Studio has also been accused of overspending money on their company cards and laying off employees unexpectedly, as per reviews by their former employees:Reviews for Wonder Works Studio, Glassdoor: No job security, Terrible leadership, Dissappointed, Would not recommend, Bears, Beets, Bad Management.
: "They do not know how to prioritize what to spend their finances on, for example: they took leads to a steakhouse (each meal would be around 50$) on the company card, to tell them they were going to lay off 10 people that day. This was the first of 2 layoffs, the second was 12 people. The second layoff was done over the Holiday break, and included a mother on maternity leave. The first Layoff also included someone on leave after surgery. For each layoff employees expressed that they would be willing to let go of catering, the snack room, and name brand clothes with the company logo if it meant they could keep more people. These comments were always met with the reasoning "after the layoffs the company now has more financial freedom to provide these things""
: "The studio regularly hires out contractors even when there is someone in house who can do the work. This is the case even when in house devs are waiting for more tasks. They cite issues with contractors not delivering on their work as a reason to not want remote employees or WFH [Work from home] day[s], ignoring that they often contract people who are still in high school rather than industry professionals."
=== Social media ===
Wonder Works Studio has had a presence on several platforms, including Twitter, Discord, Instagram, and TikTok. Many players have often called out the studio for the lack of transparency on future intentions for their games, as well as for ignoring common complaints and user feedback. 
Wonder Works Studio has had 2 Discord servers in the past, the former being shut down to move to a new server. In December 2023, WonderWorksZach announced the closure of the Discord server citing negativity and backlash from the community:
: "Hey everyone, We created this Discord to be a fun, welcoming, safe space for people in our community to gather. Over the recent weeks we've been witnessing the opposite of that and we feel at this moment, this Discord isn't a place that's inclusive or welcoming. We're all for constructive criticism and making our experiences better, but it's gone too far in the wrong way. Toxic, passive aggressive, and overall horrible behavior is now common place here. Community members are shamed for positive opinions and even picked on for enjoying the content Wonder Works Studio produces. Our moderators and staff members are being harrassed, called names, and borderline bullied over the content and games we choose to create. So for now with a heavy heart, we've decided to put a pause to activity on this server. We are unsure if we will bring it back in the future, but we do appreciate those of you that have added positive energy to this space. If you have any ideas, constructive feedback, or general opinions you'd like to share for the games we create, you can find us on Twitter @WonderWorksRB. Goodbye for now."
This decision received ambivalent feedback from the community, with some players agreeing with Wonder Works Studio's actions, while some criticized them for closing down the only source through which players could reach out to the team to report bugs and in-game issues.@obsessedgelo (2023, December 16) i just saw the discord announcement and i think it was the right thing to do. i’ve been noticing that almost everyday there is drama and i feel so bad for the team for all the hate u guys get. i just wanna say that this event is so amazing and i love ob2!!. [Tweet] The decision was announced on the Discord server's announcements channel, before the channel itself, along with other channels in the server were either promptly deleted or hidden from public view.@OverlookBayWiki (2023, December 16) Wonder Works Studio's Discord server has halted operations until further notice. All text channels and forums have been deleted. This decision was announced by Zach in the server's last remaining channel; a while before that channel too was promptly deleted. [Tweet] The announcements channel was restored a few days after, and continued to serve as a channel for announcing updates to Overlook Bay 2.
== References ==
Category:Companies