Robert Kurvitz, a former Disco Elysium author is submitting a lawsuit in opposition to developer ZA/UM on behalf of his personal firm, Telomer OÜ. We don’t at present know the specifics of the lawsuit, however it’s understood that Telomer OÜ is requesting to acquire data and overview paperwork from ZA/UM.
Regardless of not understanding the specifics, we are able to take an affordable guess at what triggered this. Earlier this month the ZA/UM Cultural Affiliation was dissolved with a number of staff being launched within the course of. It’s understood that Kurvitz’s alongside author Helen Hindpere’s and artwork director Alexander Rostov’s removing from ZA/UM was “involuntary.”
One other founding member of ZA/UM, Martin Luiga, offered some additional perception on Medium. Right here Luiga claims that buyers performed a task within the removing of those skills as they disagreed with sure monetization proposals.
Given what we all know, it appears possible that this lawsuit in opposition to the Disco Elysium developer is said to those occasions. It’s doable that Kurvitz’s lawsuit is because of unfair dismissal. Unfair dismissal refers to circumstances the place an organization fires an worker with out having a sound motive for doing so. Some examples of this embrace getting fired for whistleblowing, becoming a member of a union, asking for versatile work hours, or being on parental depart.
What about Disco Elysium 2?
Though it hasn’t been formally introduced, there have been rumors of a Disco Elysium sequel lengthy earlier than this lawsuit. The unique recreation achieved an unbelievable 97% Metascore on Metacritic in addition to ‘Very Constructive’ evaluations on Steam. It’s one of many best-received video games made.
A big a part of its success was ZA/UM’s writing workforce, with Robert Kurvitz main it. With Kurvitz and the others now gone, it does elevate considerations over what a sequel may appear like. And if this cut up was triggered by a disagreement over monetization practices, what monetization do ZA/UM’s buyers take note of? We’ve seen overly aggressive monetization fashions kill franchises up to now, and Disco Elysium could possibly be in danger too.