The two main creators of Disco Elysium released a statement accusing the new owners of developer Studio ZA/UM of taking over the company through fraud, saying they are now exploring legal options. These new owners, for their part, said these creators were fired last year for refusing to fulfill their job responsibilities and creating a toxic work environment at the struggling RPG studio.
In October, Studio ZA/UM co-founder Martin Luiga posted a cryptic statement on Medium titled “The Dissolution of the ZA/UM Cultural Association.” In it, Luiga announced that he was no longer with the company, as were co-founder and game director Robert Kurwitz, writer Helen Hindpere, and art director Alexander Rostov. They left ZA/UM at the end of 2021, he wrote, saying “their departure from the company was forced.”
The ZA/UM Cultural Association was a separate organization from the ZA/UM studio, a game developer. The Cultural Association was a loose collective of artists and writers whose ideas formed the basis of Disco Elysium and the world of it.
Beneath his name at the bottom of the note, Luiga said he wrote it at a psychiatric hospital in Tallinn, Estonia, and elsewhere said conditions in the studio before he left in late 2021 “brought him to the point of drunkenness.” ”. “.
In a new Medium post published on November 9, Rostov writes that the majority owner of Studio ZA/UM, Estonian investor Margus Linnamäe, bought his stake in the company in 2021 from a minority shareholder, another Estonian company, Tütreke OÜ. . Its owners, Ilmar Kompus and Tõnis Haavel, fired Kurvits, Hindpere and Rostov.
The reasons for the dismissal are debatable. In a statement provided to GamesIndustry.biz, the studio alleges that the creators effectively stopped performing their daily duties and treated other employees disrespectfully, including subjecting them to verbal abuse and gender discrimination. The new owners also spoke to the Estonian news agency Eesti Ekspress about the studio’s toxic work environment.
However, in their new Medium post, Kurvitz and Rostov claim that shortly after Kompus and Haavel took over the company, they removed the original creators from day-to-day operations and fired them weeks after asking for documents and financial information about the company. the company. business. .
Kurvitz and Rostov go on to say that they believe the acquisition itself is fraudulent and are discussing their legal options in Estonia and the UK.
“So far we have refrained from making any statements. It was completely voluntary, for the benefit of those still working in ZA/UM and for our own sanity. But given the seriousness of our suspicions and the seriousness of the evidence we have, we think it’s time for people to find out what happened at the company.”
In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, the new owners of ZA/UM claim that the fired creators, in addition to creating toxic jobs for other employees, also attempted to “illegally sell ZA/UM’s intellectual property to other game companies.” to undermine the rest of the team.”
“ZA/UM cannot and will not tolerate flagrant infringements, even from individuals who, along with the entire team, have contributed to a game that we are exceptionally proud of and that continues to capture imaginations around the world,” the studio said in a statement. a declaration. .
“The rumor that our decision to terminate these people’s contracts was made for the sake of financial gain is completely unfounded and by no means true,” the new owners continue. “It was a decision that had to be made for the well-being of the team. In addition, ZA/UM denies any allegations of financial abuse or fraud made against us. The vast majority of profits from Disco Elysium have been reinvested in the studio to fund our upcoming projects currently in development.”
PCGamesN has reached out to Rostov and Studio ZA/UM for further comment on the allegations, and we will update this story with any response we receive.
Source : PC Gamesn
