Apparently, several important developers and studio ZA/UM have parted ways – not on good terms, as one founding member claims. Many fans are voicing concerns.
Update 3 Oct 2022: Disco Elysium developer Aleksander Rostov has spoken out on Twitter about the rumours and reports surrounding his alleged departure from ZA/UM. Rostov states that not only himself, but also Robert Kurvitz and Helen Hindpere are no longer employed by the studio. This seems to confirm the rumours we reported on in our original post.
We confirm that we are no longer at the studio.
— Aleksander Rostov, Robert Kurvitz, Helen Hindpere
– Aleksander Rostov (@artofrostov) October 2, 2022
Original post: Disco Elysium appeared almost out of nowhere in 2019 and directly set new role-playing standards. No wonder that fans have been dying for a sequel ever since – but a blog entry is currently causing many to frown worriedly. Allegedly, several important developers have involuntarily left the studio ZA/UM and are no longer involved in the next game.
We’ll break down the current rumours for you in this article and let you know as soon as there’s news.
What happened?
Where did the info come from? The info comes from Martin Luiga, a founding member of the ZA/UM Cultural Association, the predecessor of the game development studio ZA/UM, so to speak. He has spoken out via blog and Twitter about the dissolution of this association, stating that at least three important developers of Disco Elysium have not been working at ZA/UM since the end of 2021 and that their departure was “not voluntary”. According to Luiga, they are:
- Robert Kurvitz, Lead Writer and Designer
- Helen Hindpere, Lead Writer
- Alexander Rostov, Art Director
All three were instrumental in Disco Elysium and responsible for the game’s unusual vision. At the EGX2022 trade fair, fans had already missed these developers, which makes Luiga’s information seem even more credible. As a reason for the separation he writes:
Rumor among the fan community is that the “money people” are messing stuff up… I am just hoping for the best, all things considered
– Beka Kálmán (@Samu_751) October 1, 2022
“The money people have a background that tells them you have to grab when you can, even if in reality it doesn’t make much economic sense”
What does this mean for the next game? The sequel to Disco Elysium is currently in the works, he said, which has yet to be officially confirmed – though we’d be very surprised if ZA/UM didn’t continue working on the lucrative brand.
Luiga says he expects development to continue, writing, “The sequel is progressing well enough, you might even get the version they had in mind. It might take a lot of time, but RPG fans are used to waiting”.
How are the fans reacting? But many fans are voicing great concern about the project on social media. They fear that Disco Elysium 2 could be very different without the three central developers of its predecessor. Under a (Tweet) by industry insider Nibel, for example, many write that they no longer want to buy the sequel at all. Meanwhile, on (Reddit) numerous posts like this are popping up:
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Of course we have already sent a request to the developers, if we get a response we will add it here.
