Fired Disco Elysium devs allege fraud, while the studio alleges toxic management

Contradictory statements around what happened at Disco Elysium studio ZA/UM continue, as one side alleges fraud and the other alleges toxic management.

Earlier today, game director Robert Kurvitz and art director Aleksander Rostov - both of whom were forced out of the company in 2021 - made a Medium post alleging criminal misconduct from some ZA/UM shareholders.

According to the post, the majority of shares in ZA/UM - or, more properly, Zaum Studio OÜ - were previously owned by Margus Linnamäe. The post says that in 2021, Linnamäe's shares were bought out by Tütreke OÜ, a holding company owned by Ilmar Kompus and Tõnis Haavel. Kurvitz and Rostov allege that Tütreke OÜ purchased that majority stake by fraudulently pulling funds from ZA/UM itself to make the purchase.

"We believe the money used by Tütreke OÜ to buy the majority stake was taken illegally from Zaum Studio OÜ itself, money that belonged to the studio and all shareholders but was used for the benefit of one," Kurvitz and Rostov write. "Money that should have gone towards making the sequel. We believe that these actions - which in our view, and the view of our lawyers, amount to criminal wrongdoing punishable by up to three years imprisonment - were perpetrated by Ilmar Kompus and Tõnis Haavel with support from Kaur Kender, another minority shareholder."

Kurvitz and Rostov say they are reviewing their legal options. "Both civil claims and criminal charges are on the table - in Estonia and the United Kingdom," they say.

Shortly after that post went live, GamesIndustry.biz published an "exclusive statement" from ZA/UM about the controversy. While the statement does not name specific individuals, it shares the "reasons for the justified firings of some former ZA/UM Studio team members." Earlier reports noted that Kurvitz, Rostov, and writer Helen Hindpere were the developers "involuntarily" released from ZA/UM.

ZA/UM "denies any claim of financial malfeasance or fraud that is being held against us." It alleges that the (again, unnamed in the statement) developers who were let go created "a toxic work environment that is antithetical to the ZA/UM culture and team productivity," and engaged in "misconduct in interacting with other colleagues that includes verbal abuse and gender discrimination."

The statement also alleges that the fired developers attempted "to illegally sell to other gaming companies ZA/UM’s intellectual property with the aim of undermining the rest of the team." The rights to the Disco Elysium IP have come up in other recent reports, as Kurvitz recently filed suit against ZA/UM. Studio co-founder, Martin Luiga, who revealed the firings of the three developers in the first place, suggested the suit is an effort from Kurvitz to retain the rights to Disco Elysium.

Alongside the publication of ZA/UM's statement, GamesIndustry.biz spoke to some anonymous sources at the studio, one of which described the situation as "CEO corporate scheming on one side, a toxic auteur on the other." Another said it's "not black and white."

A Disco Elysium TV series has been in the works for some time.