The Disco Elysium staff that were fired last year were apparently axed due to misconduct and harassment, claims made by its developer ZA/UM.
While the ex-staff say they were “involuntarily” forced out of the company and now allege other staff now control ZA/UM through fraud, the developer says (via GI.biz) the former staff created a “toxic environment.”
ZA/UM CEO Ilmar Kompus spoke to Estonian newspaper Estonian Ekspress, claiming Disco Elysium designer Robert Kurvitz and “Saandar Taal” of “humiliating colleagues and intending to steal IP.”
The CEO also noted Saandar Taal is an alias of Aleksander Rostov, the art director on Disco Elysium, that was one of the trio originally fired from the company. Kompus accused Kurvitz and Taal of “belittling women and co-workers,” which GI.biz’s sources also noted.
ZA/UM listed the following reasons for the firing of Disco Elysium designer Robert Kurvitz, art director Aleksander Rostov, and writer Helen Hindpere:
- Limited to no engagement in their responsibilities and work – including not working at all for almost two years while still being paid by the studio – and forcing colleagues to compensate for their lack of effort.
- Creating a toxic work environment that is antithetical to the ZA/UM culture and team productivity.
- Misconduct in interacting with other colleagues that includes verbal abuse and gender discrimination.
- Attempts to illegally sell to other gaming companies ZA/UM’s intellectual property with the aim of undermining the rest of the team.
“They treated their co-workers very badly,” Kompus said. “Despite talking to them repeatedly, things did not improve. Therefore, the company was forced to fire them. Robert [Kurvitz] is said to have been known for belittling women and co-workers in the past, but this was previously unknown to the company. It would be very short-sighted of a growing international company to tolerate such behaviour.”
Another source, who spoke on conditions of anonymity, said the situation wasn’t so black and white. They noted longtime staff were unsure of speaking up on Kurvitz’ behavior because they still respected him – and felt like they owed him for their jobs. Another source said staff hired later didn’t have a clear picture of what was going on, and felt uncomfortable speaking on behalf of others.
“ZA/UM cannot and will not tolerate egregious misconduct, even from individuals who, along with the broader team, have contributed to a game that we are exceptionally proud of and that continues to capture imaginations across the globe,” a statement reads. “In addition to creativity and innovation, ZA/UM also stands for professionalism, kindness, decency, and fairness, which we expect from all our employees. It would be shortsighted to accept anything less, as we need team players for the highly collaborative process that is creating games.”
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut has been available for Windows PC, Mac (via the Epic Games Store, GOG, Steam, and the App Store only on Mac), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, and Google Stadia. In case you missed it, you can find our thorough review for the game here.
