Disco Elysium Studio Accused Of Ousting Creators, Dev Says It’s ‘Bad News’ For Sequel

In response to one commenter claiming “the suits have killed disco,” Luiga posted a picture of the game’s executive producers, Tõnis Haavel and Kaur Kender. Haavel was previously convicted of investment fraud in Estonia, while Kender was the one who initially persuaded Kurvitz to write the book that would later inspire Disco Elysium. “Once we got Kaur on board, everything really started flowing because Kaur has this superpower that’s very important in capitalism,” Kurvitz told Gamesradar in 2020. “He understands money.” Earlier this year, Amazon inked a deal with DJ2 Entertainment, the production company currently planning film adaptations of Disco Elysium and a bunch of other games.

While ZA/UM hasn’t officially announced a sequel to Disco Elysium, Kurvitz had previously spoken about wanting to do what Baldur’s Gate 2 did for Baldur’s Gate 1, heavily implying that one was in the works. Job listings spotted earlier this year included one for an environmental artist that mentioned expanded worlds and “sci-fi,” as well as one for a sales monitizations specialist.

The studio hasn’t yet commented directly on the latest allegations either. “Like any video game, the development of Disco Elysium was and still is a collective effort, with every team member’s contribution essential and valued as part of a greater whole,” a spokesperson for ZA/UM told Kotaku in a statement. “At this time, we have no further comment to make other than the ZA/UM creative team’s focus remains on the development of our next project, and we are excited to share more news on this with you all soon.”

Luiga, Kurvitz, Rostov, and Hindpere did not immediately respond to a request for comment.