ZA/UM Developer’s Sued By Former Lead Designer

It has been a crazy few weeks for Disco Elysium developer ZA/UM, with reports of staff being forced into leaving the studio involuntarily, a lot of social media chatter, and now a new report reflecting further conflict between members of the embattled studio. Now the studio has been named as the defendant in a new lawsuit from Robert Kurvitz, lead designer and Studio ZA/UM co-founder, who was one of the aforementioned staff who were involuntarily forced out of the studio. The ugly split, dating back to 2021 has been one again restoked.

Thanks to the good folk at Tech News Space, a report from an Estonian court had uncovered the record revealing that Disco Elysium’s lead game designer Robert Kurvitz was suing Studio ZA/UM. The lawsuit has been filed by Kurvitz on behalf of his own company, titled Telomer OÜ, with the defendent being ZA/UM themselves. While no further details about the nature of the lawsuit have been revealed, we do know that the hearing is scheduled to take place on November 28, 2022. Martin Luiga, one of ZA/UM’s other co-founders has acknowledged that lawsuit themselves, tweeting out about it himself.

An interesting potential wrinkle in the mix is a report from Kotaku Australia which notes that Kurvitz is still a shareholder in the studio, and his actions may be trying to regain control of the Disco Elysium IP through his actions, which would then see himself empowered to resume work on the sequel himself. The apparent reason behind Kurvitz, as well as at least two other developers, lead artist Aleksander Rostov, and lead writer Helen Hindpere, leaving the studio was due to investors, and their desire to change the nature of ZA/UM. This decision upset the trio and left them feeling forced to leave the studio as a result.

There has, as of now, been no official public reveal of ZA/UM’s next work, presumably a sequel to Disco Elysium, despite there being a lack of formal confirmation. The most recent comments about the studio’s next work comes from Luiga who had previously stated, amidst the noise of the current dramas that the studio is currently embroiled in that the “creative team’s focus remains on the development of our next project.”

Disco Elysium was released in October 2019, before the “Final Cut” was released in March 2021. The game is courtesy of the studio’s own press releases “a groundbreaking role playing game. You’re a detective with a unique skill system at your disposal and a whole city to carve your path across. Interrogate unforgettable characters, crack murders or take bribes. Become a hero or an absolute disaster of a human being. The Final Cut adds full voice acting to the game, as well as new quests, more characters and fresh explorable areas.” The status of the sequel is unknown.

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