Today Disco Elysium developer ZA/UM officially confirmed the cancellation of a project in development and the resulting layoffs of part of its workforce.
Initially reported as a rumor citing "sources close to the matter" by GLHF, the cancellation of the project, allegedly a standalone expansion for Disco Elysium, have been confirmed officially to TechRaptor in response to our inquiry with the developer.
We received the following official statement from ZA/UM Studio, mentioning that it's hard to let go talented colleagues and thanking those who have contributed to the company's games.
As with all studios, we adapt the size of our team to the work underway, growing when we start a new project and shrinking if one is cancelled. It is always hard to lose talented colleagues, and we thank those leaving for their many contributions to ZA/UM.
The studio also shared the memo that CEO Ilmar Kompus sent to the staff, warning them of the cancellation of the project, code-named X7, and of the upcoming layoffs.
We also hear that the studio still has two games in development and that the layoffs will affect both developers and non-development personnel, and likely won't be limited to people working on the canceled project.
Dear all,
Despite concerted efforts over the past eight months by our management team and the X7 disciplines, following consultation with our management team, I have taken the difficult decision to cancel X7. This decision, unlike the pause on Project P1, will unfortunately most likely lead to redundancies within our studio.
With the cancellation of X7 we are proposing to reshape our team to support our two remaining games. This adjustment will almost certainly lead to redundancies, mostly affecting the X7 team but also our non-development teams and non-X7 projects.
We are approaching this sensitive issue with the utmost care and respect. We will be initiating a formal redundancy consultation procedure with employees of Zaum Studio Limited who are at risk of redundancy, in accordance with UK law. If you’re one of these employees, you will very shortly receive a Slack message, email, and a calendar invite for a meeting with your Lead and HR to discuss the next steps. Any individual whose role is affected, but who is not employed by Zaum Studio Limited, for example those employed by Deel or in our other EU locations, will be contacted separately about the procedure that will be followed. During this transition period, let’s maintain professionalism and support each other, upholding our studio values.
The initial report alleged that around 24 employees are at risk of redundancy.
If you're unfamiliar with ZA/UM, the developer is known mostly for Disco Elysium, a critically acclaimed RPG released in 2019 that has been defined by many as one of the best of all time. If you want to learn more, about it, you can read our enthusiastic review that awarded it with a 9 out of 10.
This latest wave of layoffs is part of a larger industry trend that has surfaced between the second half of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, affecting many companies like Sony, Microsoft, Bungie, 2K Games, Epic Games, Tencent, Amazon, Frontier, Team17, People can Fly, and more, on top of several of Embracer's studios.
