Details about the departure of key figures from Disco Elysium studio, ZA/UM/, have been revealed through an interview with Gamepressure by founding member Martin Luiga. In the interview, Luiga talks about why he announced the departure of himself, along with Robert Kurvitz, Helen Hindpere, and Aleksandr Rostov through a blog post.
“It happened late last year,” said Luiga in the interview. “They were fired on false premises and the entire ordeal has been very traumatizing for both them and people close to them.”
Luiga doesn’t seem to be at liberty to reveal too many details about the inner workings of ZA/UM leading up to the departures, however, because of an NDA. Luiga states that he made the announcement through the blog post because the studio itself hadn’t made any statements at the time.
“I think already the fact that three prominent figures have been fired, while the fanbase would expect them to go on, is vital information, and it hadn’t been held a complete secret either,” said Luiga. “The thing is, I love truth, beauty, and justice.”
He does state that a sequel to Disco Elysium might happen at some point down the road, and that the other three developers who were let go from ZA/UM will go on to make more games.
“I think the three [Kurvitz, Hindpere and Rostov] will continue making games,” he said. “As for myself, I haven’t decided the level of my involvement as of yet. Right now, it is mostly the phase of pondering ideas and managing our problems.”
Luiga announced the departures earlier this week through a post on Medium. Shortly afterwards, ZA/UM released its own statement about not wanting to make further comments, and how the focus of the studio remains with its next project.
