Disco Elysium's studio ZA/UM terminates the game's successor and fires a third of its staff. Wages a war against its own artists. Chaos ensues. Kurvitz is vi...
  • Dangdoggo@kbin.social
    109·
    9 months ago

    I dunno I love Disco Elysium but that company can fuck right off. They wrestled away the IP from the original creators and the sequel was certain to be a confused hack job with no sense of what made the original so special. The game is definitely worth playing but it’s hard to advocate giving them any money when none of it goes to the artists who made it :\

  • rtxn@lemmy.worldEnglish
    72·
    9 months ago

    Terrible for the employees, but I have no pity for ZA/UM or its top-level parasites.

  • Sibbo@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    322·
    9 months ago

    Sad. The first game was perfect to play together with the wife.

    Arguably though, Disco Elysium is such a unique art piece, any successor would likely fall very short on any expectations.

    • P03 Locke@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      351·
      9 months ago

      Well worth checking out the first game. Just, like, maybe get it from a source that isn’t going to give the money to ZA/UM.

      • Refurbished Refurbisher@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        30·
        9 months ago

        Yarr. From what I hear, ZA/UM fucked the developers hardcore. Not too sure of the details because I’ve been trying to avoid spoilers.

        Wonder if there’s a way to pay the devs directly.

        • ZephrC@lemm.eeEnglish
          253·
          9 months ago

          I know this is an unpopular thing to say, but it’s… more complicated than that. Lots of people worked on the game, and most of them stayed at ZA/UM after the lead creative guy got screwed over. The people at the top now are pure bloodsucking parasites and don’t deserve your money, but saying that Robert Kurvitz was solely responsible for the game is unfair to the dozens of people who also poured their hearts and souls into the game, and don’t ever want anything to do with him again.

          • P03 Locke@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
            131·
            9 months ago

            but saying that Robert Kurvitz was solely responsible for the game is unfair to the dozens of people who also poured their hearts and souls into the game

            I don’t think anybody is saying that.

            • ZephrC@lemm.eeEnglish
              94·
              9 months ago

              Nobody ever explicitly says that, and if you press them they’ll deny it, but people say things that only make sense if they believe that all the time.

          • Coelacanth@feddit.nuEnglish
            11·
            9 months ago

            Sure, and many people forget Helen Hindpere (second lead writer) and Aleksandr Rostov (art director) also left with Kurvitz. And even then, despite Rostov being responsible for the overall visual style the Thought Cabinet was painted by Anton Vill, and I don’t know for sure who made the portraits/skill depictions but it might also have been him (though they are more in the style of Rostov - see the 3 archetype paintings which were created by Rostov).

            Look, I know it was a collaborative effort, but even disregarding the obvious centrality of these three people to the project the issue isn’t really about that. Kurvitz has been working on this world together with his friends since they were teenagers. It’s clearly his life’s work. Just because he was allegedly a shitty boss doesn’t mean he deserves to have the IP stolen from under him.

            • ZephrC@lemm.eeEnglish
              62·
              9 months ago

              Sure, they were all absolutely important to the game, and that matters, but saying Kurvitz, his girlfriend, and his best friend all left together when no one else wanted to isn’t really impressing me with how great of a person he is to work for. I don’t think he deserved anything that happened to him, but I am absolutely certain that the only thing holding the studio together was a collective desire to see the game finished from everyone involved. There was never going to be a Disco Elysium 2. There is no force on Earth that could have held that studio together with all the talented people involved past the release of the game. It sucks that the scum of the Earth got control of what’s left of it, and it sucks that Kurvitz lost the rights to his life’s work, but in the end it doesn’t actually change much other than one asshole getting like 60% of the residuals on sales of Disco Elysium. Which to be clear is a bad thing. I’m not happy about the situation. This was all lightning in a bottle though. It was never going to happen again.

              • Coelacanth@feddit.nuEnglish
                4·
                9 months ago

                Kurvitz, his girlfriend, and his best friend all left together when no one else wanted to isn’t really impressing me with how great of a person he is to work for.

                I don’t know what their personal relations has to do with their creative accomplishments, and it seems you are arguing a different point than I am so I’m confused. I’m not really concerned with how Kurvitz was as a boss and leader, I wasn’t there so I couldn’t possibly have anything to comment regarding the allegations (though from reading the interviews with the devs who were fired just the other day it seems the problems with the toxic work environment endured way past his exit so he can’t have been the sole cause unlike what the corporate leaders claimed).

                I do agree that it was lightning in a bottle and unlikely to happen again, but the state of affairs do change more than who gets to collect residual income from DE sales over the years: Kurvitz and co. are not allowed to do further work in the world of Elysium. Sure, if the allegations were true he would maybe not be able to hold another video game development team together, but perhaps he might write another novel?

                Regardless of what you think of him and his friends, they together created the world of Elysium over the course of several decades, which is what makes it so rich and deep. What makes me most sad is that they’re locked out of further exploring it, and subsequently so are we.

                • ZephrC@lemm.eeEnglish
                  21·
                  9 months ago

                  I don’t think it has anything to do with their creative accomplishments. I think it needed clarifying that no one he is not personally involved with outside of work wanted to continue working for him. Frankly you claiming to be confused by that is concerning to me.

                  There were six writers, and dozens of other people, for most of the development of Disco Elysium. Why would it be any better for just three of them to get the rights? This was always going to be a mess where people got screwed in ways they didn’t deserve. I can say that Kurvitz ended up being the one that got most screwed and that genuinely sucks, but also there was no way it was going to turn out any better. Those things aren’t mutually exclusive.

                  As for Kurvitz in the future, I don’t know how this will turn out, and it’s true that he can’t write any direct sequels involving any of the characters or locations explicitly in the game, but basically nothing else about the game is even really copywritable. He can still write stories in the same world with the serial numbers filed off. I don’t know if he will. He might spend the rest of his life being bitter about what was stolen from him, but if he wants to go back to what he’s good at he always has that option.

          • Hyperreality@kbin.social
            11·
            9 months ago

            I don’t know if they pay per sale, or if they bought the right to sell the game with a one off lump sum as they have done in the past for at least some games.

            If it’s the latter, my buying the game on gog doesn’t send any more money to the original studio.

            • ZephrC@lemm.eeEnglish
              31·
              9 months ago

              Well, I certainly don’t know any details, but I’d imagine they mostly do that with older or more obscure games where it’s just not worth the time to make sure everyone gets their pennies sorted out properly. Probably not so much with modern game of the year winners.

    • Donkter@lemmy.worldEnglish
      111·
      9 months ago

      It’s pretty close to a perfect storytelling experience. Extraordinarily unique.

  • Patapon Enjoyer@lemmy.worldEnglish
    191·
    9 months ago

    Not the ending I wanted for Elysium, but it’s hard to argue it’s not the most thematically appropriate

  • DaseinPickle@leminal.spaceEnglish
    2213·
    9 months ago

    I hope Larian Stusios will buy this IP, rehire the original writers and so great things with it.

    • 1simpletailer@startrek.websiteEnglish
      23·
      9 months ago

      Ehhh I don’t think Larians quite up to the task. Yeah BG3 has an engaging story and some good characters, but politically it doesn’t really have anything to say outside of some queer representation. It’s the Sunday Friend’s favorite new RPG!

      • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        8·
        9 months ago

        Yeah playing DnD isn’t some blow against the right-wing theocracy establishment like it was in the 1980’s.

        Source: Was never allowed to play DnD as a kid because it was ‘Satanic.’ Grew up during 80’s Satanic Panic.

      • DaseinPickle@leminal.spaceEnglish
        4·
        9 months ago

        Well that’s why they need to hire the original writers. I don’t think anybody would consider Baldurs Gate especially political, maybe expect for a few fringe right wingers. But Larian have the resources, technical expertise and know how to build a big RPG and if they bought the IP, I’m sure they would respect the source material. You wouldn’t want to make a Disco Elysium game if you where to afraid to get political.

    • Vash63@lemmy.worldEnglish
      51·
      9 months ago

      No, because that still gives these assholes money. I hope someone hires the original team to make something new.