Scandal gathers pace: Unfairly dismissed leading game designer of Disco Elysium sues ZA/UM studio management
At the beginning of October 2022 it was reported online that a scandal was breaking out at ZA/UM - the developer of Disco Elysium. The situation started to unfold in 2021 when the company's management fired several key developers of the famous game for spurious reasons: the lead game designer Robert Kurvitz, the screenwriter Helen Hidnpere and the lead designer Aleksander Rostov.
They were slow to publicize the conflict with ZA/UM, but now that the fired developers decided to get justice, the media got some details.
Robert Kurvitz sued ZA/UM, and the first hearing will be held on November 28. The lawsuit remains unknown, but it's likely that Kurvitz will try to get the rights to the Disco Elysium franchise back, and together with other fired colleagues plan to work on the game's sequel.
According to media reports, and ZA/UM has threatened to file a countersuit against Robert Kurwitz.
It would be a shame if such an extraordinary game as Disco Elysium was buried under a mountain of lawsuits and internal conflicts. Especially since former Disco Elysium editor Martin Luiga expressed doubt that the remaining ZA/UM team would be willing and able to release a decent sequel to the game.