Key Disco Elysium developers’ departures from ZA/UM has been shrouded in controversy, with game director Robert Kurvitz and art director Aleksander Rostov disagreeing with ZA/UM over the circumstances of their removal.
Kurvitz and Rostov claimed they were forced out by investors who scammed their way into obtaining a majority share of the company, while ZA/UM representatives disagreed, and said the duo were fired for workplace misconduct.
Kurvitz and Rostov detailed their full allegations in a Medium article and claimed that the majority stakehold in ZA/UM, previously held by Estonian businessman Margus Linnamäe, was bought out by Tütreke OÜ, an entity owned by two individuals named Ilmar Kompus and Tõnis Haavel. After the transition of ownership, the duo alleged Kompus and Haavel pushed them out of the company.
“As soon as they became majority shareholders, we were quickly excluded from daily operations, our employment was terminated and our access to the company’s information was shut off,” Kurvitz and Rostov wrote. “Our firing came weeks after we started asking for documents and financial data, which is still being kept from us.”
They then claimed that Kompus and Haavel fraudulently obtained the majority stake by using ZA/UM’s money.
“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. Money that should have gone towards making the sequel,” they write. “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.”
ZA/UM studio issued a very different statement to Gamesindustry.biz and said recently dismissed employees–no individuals were named specifically–had “limited to no engagement in their responsibilities and work, created a toxic work environment, misconduct including verbal abuse and gender discrimination,” and also “attempted to illegally sell to other gaming companies ZA/UM’s intellectual property.”
ZA/UM studio claimed any “rumors” of financial scams are unfounded. Legal filings are in process, confirmed ZA/UM. Kurvitz filed a lawsuit in October to “obtain and review documents.”
According to other anonymous sources who spoke to Gamesindustry.biz, the situation isn’t “black-and-white,” and there were conflicts between the Kurvitz-led creative team and the business team. One source described it as, “CEO corporate scheming on one side, a toxic auteur on the other.”
Kurvitz and Rostov said they are currently exploring legal options, and consider “civil claims and criminal charges” both on the table in Estonia and the UK.
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