One of the most surprising and dramatic video game storylines of 2022 has taken a serious turn. According to a report from publication Tech News Space, Robert Kurvitz, the main designer and writer of the critically acclaimed Disco Elysium, is suing his former development studio ZA/UM. This news coincided with Twitter post from Martin Luiga, who was one of the co-founders of the studio and a major driving force behind the title, which links the post from the publication. This newest tidbit of information follows what has been unveiled as an extremely messy breakup from certain developers who “involuntarily” left the studio.
According to the report, Kurvitz is filing the suit against ZA/UM on behalf of his own company Telomer. Kurvitz is a founding member of Telomer and has been on the board of directors since 2020. In addition, and according to Kotaku AU, the Estonian Ministry of Justice’s website shows a tentative date for November 28th, 2022 for the initial hearing. It also states that the hearing is to “obtain information and review documents” which is the only piece of information that is offered when looking at the listing.
This will likely be the first of many legal exchanges between the two sides, which will potentially have some major ramifications for all those involved. As we mentioned earlier, this all started when it was revealed that lead designer Robert Kurvitz, writer Helen Hindpere, art director Aleksander Rostov, and editor Martin Luiga all left ZA/UM be the end of 2021. All four were founding members of the studio and were an integral aspect of the development for Disco Elysium.
The reveal that all four were no longer at the studio sent shockwaves throughout the video game industry and sent the fanbase into a frenzy of asking questions. Luiga states in his reveal, although not directly, that the reasoning for this was due to the investors changing hands with one of them apparently being “first guy to be convicted for investment fraud in Estonia.” Luiga also mentions that ZA/UM might not have received any sort of investment without the investors to begin with. Either way you extrapolate it, there appears to be some sort of internal strife within the studio, most of which might be coming to light when these first hearings take place.