Fired Disco Elysium lead designer files lawsuit against his former studio
At the beginning of the month, Martin Luiga, co-founder of Disco Elysium studio ZA/UM, revealed that three key team members had been fired in late 2021. Lead designer Robert Kurvitz, writer Helen Hindpere, and art director Aleksander Rostov had all reportedly been forced out of the studio (Rostov later confirmed in a Tweet that the three were no longer at the studio, but didn't comment on whether they left voluntarily or not) and he considered the core spirit of the studio to be dead. Luiga has not given many details due to his NDA, but he has alleged that they were fired under "false premises" and blames the company's investors on changing the nature of the company, which led to arguments and eventual dismissals. It's worth noting that in July ZA/UM was hiring for a "sales and monetization specialist" who was skilled in maximizing revenue on "live services content" and, considering Disco Elysium's anti-capitalist message, it's possible Kurvitz, Hindpere and Rostov objected to increasing monetization past the initial purchase.
Now, it appears a legal battle may be starting over the situation. Technewsspace reportedly found documentation on the Estonian court's website that ZA/UM was being sued by another company owned by Kurvitz. (This report was indirectly supported by a Tweet from Luiga, who has since Tweeted out other links to the story as well.) Kotaku Australia found that the application is to "obtain information and review documents" from ZA/UM.
The exact purpose of this action is unknown right now, though some are speculating he wants to regain the rights to Disco Elysium. Luiga claims Kurvitz has been working on the intellectual property in some way or another since 2002, and he has already expressed interest in a sequel, telling GameSpot in 2020 that he'd "like to do what Baldur’s Gate 2 did to Baldur’s Gate 1.”
