Disco Elysium Dev ZA/UM Announces Layoffs Affecting Up to 32 Staff

Disco Elysium developer ZA/UM has announced layoffs affecting up to 32 unit conscionable 2 months aft launching Zero Parades: For Dead Spies.

The UK-based workplace published a connection regarding the changes connected its X/Twitter account. It says that, contempt releasing its latest crippled successful May to "critical acclaim, its commercialized show has not enabled america to prolong a workplace of our existent size."

"We person served redundancy oregon at-risk notices impacting up to 32 of our colleagues crossed each departments astatine ZA/UM Studio," the connection said. "Their enactment has made a lasting quality and near its people connected Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, and the workplace arsenic a whole."

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ZA/UM said it volition proceed to "consult and enactment with" members of its Workers' Alliance national passim the "difficult process." The connection added that the layoffs volition alteration "the signifier of ZA/UM, but not its purpose."

"Our creator standards stay unchanged: we volition persist," it continued. "To anyone presently hiring, delight see the colleagues leaving ZA/UM.

The 2020s person been unsmooth for ZA/UM. Trouble genuinely began successful aboriginal October 2022, erstwhile aggregate cardinal developers – including writer and decorator Robert Kurvitz, writer Helen Hindpere, and creation and plan pb Aleksander Rostov – were said to person near the workplace involuntarily. Just weeks later, it was revealed that Kurvitz had launched a suit against the company, with some helium and Rostov alleging Ilmar Kompus and Tõnis Haavel of Tütreke OÜ had obtained power of ZA/UM "by fraud." ZA/UM denied these claims portion launching their ain accusations successful a connection sent to Gamesindustry.biz.

As things unwound down the scenes, a bid of spinoff studios made up of erstwhile ZA/UM developers person emerged. Dark Math Games and Longdue Games announced their projects, XXX Nightshift and Hopetown, successful October 2024, with Summer Eternal revealing itself soon after.

With years of contention nether its belt, today's layoffs aren't ZA/UM's first. In 2024, it was reported that astir 24 employees had been impacted by layoffs. The aforesaid update brought connection that a standalone Disco Elysium enlargement had been canceled.

Disco Elysium won ZA/UM aggregate categories astatine The Game Awards 2019 and earned a 9.6/10 reappraisal from IGN astatine the clip of its launch. While Zero Parades: For Dead Spies didn't look to unrecorded up to the precocious barroom acceptable by its predecessor, it inactive boasts an 83 from critics connected Metacritic pursuing its May 21, 2026, motorboat for PC and PS5. For much connected ZA/UM, you tin work IGN's breakdown for the afloat chaotic communicative down what's happened astatine the studio.

Michael Cripe is simply a freelance writer with IGN. He's champion known for his enactment astatine sites similar The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be definite to springiness him a travel connected Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).