ZA/UM says ‘Disco Elysium’ remains a “collective effort” despite “involuntary” departures

Several developers who worked on Disco Elysium reportedly “involuntarily” left ZA/UM, but the company says development “still is a collective effort.”

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On October 1, a Medium post written by ZA/UM founder Martin Luiga alleged that several members of the core team left “involuntarily” at the end of 2021.

Luiga announced the “dissolution of the ZA/UM Cultural Association” and stated that Disco Elysium lead designer Robert Kurvitz, writer Helen Hindpere, and art director Aleksander Rostov were let go.

“I, Martin Luiga, a founding member and Secretary of the ZA/UM cultural association, as well as the assembler of most of the core team, am hereby dissolving the ZA/UM cultural association (not to be confused with the ZA/UM company, on which subject I would note that neither Kurvitz, Hindpere nor Rostov are working there since the end of last year and their leaving the company was involuntary,” Luiga wrote.

“Which would seem like bad news for the loving fans that are waiting for the Disco sequel… The reason for dissolving the cultural organization is that it no longer represents the ethos it was founded on.”

Today (October 3), a statement was released by ZA/UM studio representatives (via GamesRadar) which claims the development of Disco Elysium remains a “collective effort.” You can read the full statement below:

“Like any video game, the development of Disco Elysium was and still is a collective effort, with every team member’s contribution essential and valued as part of a greater whole. At this time, we have no further comment to make other than the ZA/UM creative team’s focus remains on the development of our next project, and we are excited to share more news on this with you all soon.”

In other news, Frances Townsend has stepped down from the role of Activision Blizzard‘s chief compliance officer.

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