How Disco Elysium Was Stolen From Its Creators 

ZA/UM died the most Disco Elysium death possible, swallowed by capital after critiquing it.

In retrospect the studio being taken over by a large company and its creator being committed to an insane asylum really is the most thematically appropriate way for the IP to end.

yeah, this is totally gonna sink the franchise. the new owners are literally the embodiment of one of the things the game warned about: Corporate greed.

God this story makes me sad, I recently finished this game and it’s made such a huge impact on me, seriously one of the most unique and wonderful experiences I’ve ever had playing a game, I want to support the original creators and hope they get their company back.

The worst part is, if you brought the idea for disco Elysium to the same people who stole the IP, they would laugh you out of the room. They are so afraid to take risks artistically that all they can do is steal ideas that have gained traction

Kompus's wife is Haavel's longtime girlfriend's sister. So it's a little crime family. Also in autumn he paid back the 4.8 million he stole from za/um, however he already got the shares with it, so it's not like that erases the crime, as far as I know we're still not allowed to use theft as an interest free loan.

You forgot to mention Helen who also got cut off from ZA/UM. Otherwise, this reminds me of Vince Zampella and Jason West getting snaked out of Infinity Ward back in around 2010-ish. Except this ZA/UM issue is even more hilarious considering Disco Elysium's themes and content

Good write up but its weird how you completely neglected to mention Helen Hindpere who was also a key writer who was also ousted in the hostile takeover. She wrote a large chunk of the games text alongside Kurvitz and her contributions at least warrant some sort of mention. It's wild to me that multiple sources you cite from and show ON SCREEN mention her yet you couldn't even give the barest of shout outs.

It's so sad - Disco Elysium grabbed me in a way no other game had in about 20 years, it was a bone fide masterpiece, and now it's been ruined by the very corporate greed it railed against. This world has so much potential, to see it squandered in this way is almost criminal.

You know it's crazy how if ZA/UM had just let the production team actually do their jobs, the Golden Goose would've laid ANOTHER EGG, but instead they butchered the Golden Goose for its meat...

Was looking forward to being in disco elysium 2 now im just depressed

Why was Helen Hindpere cut out of the coverage of what happened (and it looks like maybe the photo in the video)? She was a huge part of Disco Elysium's success and also one of the key people fired alongside Kurvitz and Rostov.

Wow i had no idea this was going on... CRAZY. and crazy good video, love the edits, so cool to see you on camera Robo!

Thank you for this. I knew there were some problems but had no idea what actually happened. Good to know I won't have to support ZA/UM until this is fixed. Or just help out the original 3 if they start their own thing.

Definitely this is a game that i would now play pirated without any guilt.

It's painful to hear of this. Give them back their company

Hell yeah, give this issue visability!

This is why shareholders should be at the bottom. Not the top. People who only buy into projects are investors in an idea. They are not creators, therefore they shouldn't be involved in any part of a creative operation. Simply put. A shareholder is someone who believes in the idea to put financial backing into it. Don't like the idea? Take your money elsewhere. There should be no degree of control by swinging money around.

Honestly I really hope that there isn’t a Disco Elysium 2 at this point, at least not one that’s made without the og team. If the second game is bad then it taints the first game too, and I’d rather just have the one then it be tainted by a half baked sequel

The company you mentioned with a stake in Zaum was mispronounced 'Yessirnor', it looks like it's meant to be 'Yes Sir, No Sir LTD'

Whoever invented the Brazen Bull must have felt the same way about somebody as I feel about Kompus and Haaval.

why do people reporting on this never mention Helen Hindpere and her massive contributions to the game?

Artist: Create something incredible. Soulless corporate money men: How can we squeeze every ounce of profit out of it? (And don't mind if we ruin everything about this in the process.)

This is nuts I had no idea! Holy hell. I've been doing research on these guys and supporting them for awhile now, I can't believe this is even real. Listen I'm not an activist or anything, but Disco Elysium 2 would be the only game I've ever boycotted. More people need to know about this. How is it even legal? Are they going through years of court battles as we speak? Thanks for the video! ps. Best RPG ever made.

How is this even legal? It doesn't just call into question ZA/UM, it ironically call into question Estonia's ability to combat corruption and fraud.

i wish kurvitz's book would get translated into english

it's so frustrating, i love this game and it's setting so much, when i finished my first playthrough i wanted more, i really hope the original developers win

is there a reason u didn't mention Helen Hindpere despite having ostensibly read that she , in fact, exists and matters greatly ?

I hope to all the gods that will listen that the original creators win !!! but if they dont it will be a very sad day for the medium. we will have essentially lost one of the most ambitious and avant-garde video games to become popular to corporate and capital greed ... and i will mourn such a loss of creativity. Also very goood video im new but i love your content !!

Thank you for explaining this. I knew something was going on but I couldn't quite understand how it was happening. I don't know if things will be solved, but at least you are helping bring it to the public eye, and at least helping give the original creators the credit that it's owed to them. I choose to be hopeful that the IP will somehow return to the people it belongs to, and hopeful that we --the fans-- won't mindlessly throw money at some product just beacuse it has the Disco Elysium tag if we know this is still happening.

Why is it that so many talented artists in the modern world are forced to sell out or bend over and get screwed. Disco Elysium is a masterpiece on so many levels, but it isn't the only victim of this. It's sickening.

Nevermind the irony of it all... The greatest tragedy (and one of my personal fears/loathes as an artist/writer) is that the creators, who have a genuine passion and built this up, the minds behind the entire thing are locked out of ownership and usage of their own creation. While it's noble to assume they can move on to another idea and bottle up lightning again in spite of this situation, it's gotta be one of the greatest hardships to have something you have contributed so much of your life towards, your creative baby, stripped entirely away from you.

It almost seems too on the nose for the disco elysium world to be ruined by corporate and capitalist greed, like a metaphor or mirror image of Revachol. If this whole episode was part of DE2, i wouldn’t be surprised.

Speaking of companies that does wrong choices.. Enlisted has a very greedy gameplay loop even if you buy the season pass or premium edition or whatever they call it. I understand that it's a free game and they need to fund the game somehow but the game is too grindy even if you put money into it.

Jesus, this is so sickening. I hate people sometimes...

Awful news to hear. Loved DE despite how grindy the loading was. I was really looking forward to what would be done with the next game, like what they would improve, what they would change or add, and more so what the story would be. Thanks for the info

Big thanks to you for coverage of this topic. Disco have become one of my favorite gemes lately, so I kinda worring about this all situation. Its important to let people know... Спасибо.

5:34 Except for the "deep strategic combat" part. And I don't mind it.

"Deep strategic combat" imagine filming such piece without having actually playing the game

A quick scan of the comments is giving me the the vibes from the in-game quest of the abandoned company

Thanks for this. I was entirely unaware of any of this. Unless something big changes, I know to avoid the sequel...and keep an eye out for the original talent's future works, ZA/UM or not.

Great video! It's insane that this happened. One small thing: "RPG game" means "role-playing game game." It's just RPG.

I was about to buy the game since it has a huge sale but if the game was stolen from the actual devs I might just pirate the game entirely

Eh.... wtf? The new owners are like the corporate greed villains the game makes fun of. Can we just crowdfund the original owners to sponsor a new game instead? Does not have to be named Disco Elysium 2. It can be named Techno Arcadia and be set in a Berlin inspired world.

this man's thumbnails are a steam DLC

In the fallout modding community; they were talking about this just this morning. Funny coincidence!

the whole video was thinking that the mic looks like a cotton candy and ended up being distracted expecting him to take a bite

Glad to see a video on this, it’s insane

Yea was pure greed. Was bad enough to take controlling interest, but then he had to be sure and F' over the designer and artists.

Someone get this guy a microphone mount!

Thank you for the video. I hope the creators of Disco Elysium are able to get a satisfactory conclusion with this ongoing situation. It's awful they're having to deal with this.

"Wow, i had no idea this was going on!" -average American consumer

pirating elysium is morally correct

The game was amazing, this is so sad that it happened. So much potential now lost

Speaking of greed screwing over franchises, would you make a video about Alice: Asylum?

In conclusion: There will no DE2 & you gotta do your best to preserve DE before it will get pulled from store because of the troubled company.

More like a rule than the exception; it seems that success attracts exploiters in one form or another. Often, the first step towards disaster can be attributed to the lacking judgement of someone who sells or somehow hands over control.

This is really depressing. I wish I'd known this before buying it so I wouldn't have given them my money. I hope the original creators are doing ok.

I think it was Patrick Boivin, one of the Friends from SBFP, who said that Disco Elysium 1 and 2 will be unique in that both titles will be the most interesting games ever for completely different reasons.

I honestly didn't know the full scope of this situation. I saw some recent news that many of the employees working at ZA/UM were unhappy especially after a mass layoff with little explanation. It seemed so confusing after playing the game and hearing a few words from the original creator, but now it all makes sense.

Bro this is so fucking infuriating. I will NOT buy Disco Elysium 2, besides from the fact that it will probably be shit compared to the first one, because the whole core of the idea was just scammed out of the development. I hate what this greedy market does to small studios and independent, creative developers, who just want a chance to present their idea to the world. Its insane how all of this is just so easily possible for those disgusting scammers.

Goddamn Ultraliberals. Where's an Evrart Claire when we need one?

No wonder collage mode feels so unrelated to the main game...

Just to be clear, did they even make money off the game or did all the money they made get stolen and then used to buy the company from them before they were fired.

The new owner giving the money back reminds me of Pinky and the Brain. I can't find the clip on RU-vid. But the dialogue goes "Egad brain Brilliant! Oh, no. Wait, wouldn't that be horribly illegal?" "Yes Pinky. But after I rule the world, I will give the money back, and have Gerald Ford pardon me." Because I am no lawyer. But, I am pretty sure that giving the money back later is not a defense for fraud. But also, it is odd that in a game with an anti-capitalist message, where capitalism causes the main character to develop amnesia, you can play free-market fundamentalist cop, or a communist cop, and get different bonuses, and both are completely viable mechanically. I believe that this is ludo-narrative dissonance.

I bought the game the day it was released but now I think I wont be buying the sequel unless the company sort this problem out it makes me so sad how corporate greed robbed disco elysium from its creators like that :(

I just finished the game, I'm so shocked by this story. I can't believe this theft went unnoticed by the police. Absolutely insane. And the game is a masterpiece!

The light-bending man would be proud of these “investments”. 🤨

😅back after ZAUM cancelled their new game and fired half the staff

Thank you so much for doing this story

Thanks so much for this, I'd been looking for information on this situation for months, but it's unfortunately scarce to come across. I assume Kurvitz and co can't speak publicly because of the court cases, but I'd really love to hear their side of the story. With all the love this game has received and the extreme relevance of its anti-capitalist subject matter to our greed-stricken world and the gaming industry in particular, I really think the gaming community should unify its voice in support of the original creators to strengthen their plight. Hearing from Kurvitz and the team could have a catalysing effect, rallying DE's hordes of fans to their side. I really think that in a decade or so this case will in hindsight be seen as a pivotal case in the capitalist disease that has infested our beloved industry. I just hope it will be a change for the better, symbolised by an emphatic win by the original creators. I would love to know how I could show my support to the team apart from simply writing a RU-vid a comment, and I'm sure many other fans would too.

You wouldn't steal a company

Thank you for making this video. If I was not aware of the situation I would have picked the game up day one probably. but now I will not be supporting it. Hopefully another angel investor comes along and can give these people another shot at making a Spiritual successor.

The lore of Revachol literally became the story of the the studio

Entire situation seems very reminiscent of the the way Mariel Cartwright stole skullgirls from original creator, Mark Zaimont. Never knew gaming company power upheavals were such a common thing.

Can you make a video about the lawsuits?, the information I read on the internet isn't clear at all :(

Awesome content, dude!

Basically every "triple A" franchise's story. With or without fraud.

8:36 It's "yes sir no sir limited"

Thank you for this, but in my opinion, the matters you discuss are a lot more complicated. I know, a short video can not cover all of that and I am all for exposing shady business practices. But there were more people involved in the making of Disco Elysium and these people suffer for simplifying this matter. There is an extensive investigation on this topic by another channel (not gonna name it under your video) that does a deep dive into the complicated connections.

"Strategic Combat" No, I don't believe that made it into the game. For the best I think.

I've tried multiple times to play Disco Elysium, every time I've ended up dying one way or another - not sure what to do...

Not that ironic in the end. It's less about capitalism and more about corruption and greed, something socialism too is quite familiar with. Sad story nonetheless.

I had no idea about this, this is fucking sad man. I really enjoyed DE, and was stoked that they were going to do a sequel. Not anymore, I guess. Hopefully this will get righted someday.

Surely this game inspires more like it. It’s too good, and there’s so much potential there.

A primary piece of the game's engine and listed in the credits, Pixel Crusher's Dialogue system is 40 bucks in the Unity asset store. Why don't they just say 'screw the collective' and remake the engine? I'd rather take a spiritual sequel at this point. I'd also love to see what they would do with Pixel Crusher's Love/Hate system, if anything.

well, are there any news ? regarding the whole case

That's sad but where big money there always greed and company's closure or "changes" in the staff, I guess we wouldn't hear from Disco Elysium ever again or unfortunately a horrible sequel

The bourgeois ảe not human.

Atleast the irony of the situation is funny.

Amazing job on this rpg video 🎉

But how? It sounds like a classic story of not having solid contracts in place.

It took me until 2:20 to realize that was actually Robokast talking there

This is crazy, I've played disco elysium and had no idea this was going on with the devs

Don't you just love modern gaming.

Maybe I missed it, but when exactly did all of these things happen. I was/am confused as to when the buy of the company happened, as well the oustings.

Now I feel bad for buying it. Wasnt aware of this.

3:30

I hope they win it back somehow this game helped me when i was in a dark place in life it got my mind right

Based on what I heard about one of the original creators being obnoxious in the office, my mind is amused at the idea that he's mirrored the archetype of the main character in the game. Maybe he has to solve a case to redeem himself...