As many already know, the situation ZA / UM – author Disc Elysium – somewhat complicated and above all sad. Some leading team names were removed a long time ago and now one is starting legal battle. While layoffs say tax fraud takes place behind the scenes, the team responds by talking about employee misconduct and toxic behavior.
According to a series of statements, game director Robert Kurvitz and artistic director Aleksander Rostov have announced that some of the Zaum Studio OÜ shareholders fraudulently bought a majority stake.
More precisely, the majority of the shares in Zaum Studio OÜ were previously owned by Margus Linnamäe. However, in 2021 Linnamäe’s shares were taken over by Tütreke OÜ, a holding company owned by Ilmar Kompus and Tõnis Haavel. Kurvitz and Rostov allege that they fraudulently bought the majority stake in Tütreke OÜ. funds of the same ZA / UM to make a purchase.
“We think that the money used to buy the majority shares of Tütreke OÜ was unlawfully withdrawn by Zaum Studio OÜ itself, belonging to the company and all shareholders, but used for the benefit of only one of them”, Kurvitz and Rostov write. “The money that must be used to drive the sequel. We and our lawyers believe that these actions, which we and our lawyers believe are a crime punishable by up to three years in prison, were carried out by Ilmar Kompus and Tõnis Haavel with the support of Kaur. Kender, another minority shareholder”.
Kurvitz and Rostov say they’re evaluating theirs legal options. “Both civil and criminal charges are at stake in Estonia and the UK,” they say.
But after all that, Reply from Zaum Studio OÜVia GamesIndustry.biz.
The newspaper published a ZA/UM “special statement” about the dispute. Although the declaration does not contain specific names, “justifiable grounds for dismissal From some former members of the ZA/UM Studio team. “Although not mentioned, mention is made of Kurvitz, Rostov, and writer Helen Hindpere.
ZA/UM “denies any allegations of financial misconduct or fraud against us”. The statement purports to be created by licensed (again unnamed) developers.a toxic work environment Contrary to ZA/UM culture and team productivity “and engages in abuses that include verbal abuse and gender discrimination in interacting with other colleagues”.
The statement also states that licensed developers “sell illegally intellectual property of ZA/UM to other video game companies in an attempt to weaken the rest of the team”.
Coinciding with the release of the ZA/UM statement, GamesIndustry.biz spoke to some people. anonymous sources of research, one of them described the situation as “a corporate conspiracy by the CEO on the one hand, and a poisonous perpetrator on the other.” another said status “not black or white”.
Therefore, there is no certainty as to what is actually going on in ZA/UM. One thing is for sure, it’s very sad to see a team like ZA/UM able to create an amazing game like Disco Elysium (review here) and break away from such events.
Source: Multiplayer
