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Update 10/03/22: ZA/UM issued the following statement: “Like any video game, the development of Disco Elysium was and continues to be a collective effort, with the contribution of each team member essential and valued as part of a larger whole. At this time, we have no further comment for to do besides the focus of the ZA/UM creative team remains on the development of our next project, and we are excited to share more news about that with all of you soon.”
Original story follows.
Martin Luiga, founding member of Studio ZA/UM and editor for Disco Elysium, PC Gamer’s Game of the Year 2019 and Top 100, announced the “dissolution of the ZA/UM Cultural Association” via a post on Medium. (first spotted by a freelance journalist Nibel on Twitter).
Luiga marks the ZA/UM “cultural association” as distinct from the company, and claims that Disco Elysium lead designer Robert Kurvitz, writer Helen Hindpere, and art director Aleksander Rostov have left the company involuntarily at the end of 2021.
October 2, Rostov tweeted that he, Kurvitz, and Hindpere were no longer with the studio, and signed the message as being from the three of them.
Luiga claims that ZA/UM as a cultural project “no longer represents the atmosphere on which it was founded.” Luiga explains that he believes that ZA/UM was a success, and that “most of the mistakes that were made were contingent, determined by the socio-cultural conditions in which we were thrown.”
We confirm that we are no longer in the studio.– Aleksander Rostov, Robert Kurvitz, Helen Hindpere2 October 2022
In response to a comment on Medium (opens in a new tab), Luiga seems to blame ZA/UM’s investors for its change in character and the departure of key team members. Luiga also admits that he does not know if ZA/UM would have been able to finance itself without the contribution of those investors. “For a while, it was nice,” concludes Luigia. “My sincerest thanks to everyone who rooted for us.”
Luiga signs the post as writing from “Tallinn Inpatient Treatment Center of Psychiatry Clinic, Ward IX.” Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is where ZA/UM first came together. It is not clear to me whether the location signature is a true indication of Luiga’s current state, or an extremely dark joke. I sincerely hope that Martin Luiga is safe and sound.
Luiga, Kurvitz, Hindpere, and Rostov were all members of the punk collective that later became Studio ZA/UM, as outlined in various interviews and the Disco Elysium art book. Kurvitz and Hindpere in particular were driving forces in the game’s acclaimed script, and Rostov’s impressionistic art style remains one of the game’s defining features.
As for the sequel, with its jobs mentioning “a love of science fiction and space,” Luiga doesn’t seem as worried about it as you might expect. In another tweethe writes, “I think things with the sequel are actually pretty sweet, you might even get it the way it was meant to be, it might take a ton of time but RPG fans are kind of used to waiting, aren’t they” .
We’ve reached out to Studio ZA/UM for comment and will update this story if we hear back.
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