Key Takeaways
- One of the founders of a Disco Elysium successor studio is allegedly taking legal action against another.
- Summer Eternal founder Argo Tuulik is claiming that Riaz Moola of Longdue, alongside ZA/UM, is conspiring against him and his studio.
- Dark Math Games, another successor, has also been named in the dispute.
Disco Elysium is one of the greatest narratives ever told in the medium, but the real-life fracturing of the game’s development team is also proving to be quite the story. ZA/UM’s collapse seemed to begin when several key figures, including the setting’s creator Robert Kurvitz, departed the studio under contentious circumstances. Kurvitz and others allege that the studio’s executives have been mishandling funds, while ZA/UM claims that Kurvitz and others were fired with cause.
Since then, as many as five studios have cropped up with the promise that they’re building spiritual successors to Disco Elysium. Rather comically, three of these studios were all announced on the same day: Longdue, Summer Eternal and Dark Math Games. It’s these three studios, along with ZA/UM, that are named by Summer Eternal founder Argo Tuulik in an ongoing dispute.
The Antecentennial Revolution Reborn
Tuulik was a writer on Disco Elysium before leaving ZA/UM, citing “incompetence and injustice” at the remains of the studio. He then founded Summer Eternal, a development studio and art collective that’s certainly the most outwardly communist of the various Disco Elysium successors. The studio’s manifesto promises to build a “cultural megaproject” in the form of an RPG.
Tuulik has taken to social media to detail his recent legal troubles with ZA/UM and Longdue. The post reads, “Got some news. GoGrammar on behalf of Londgue and Riaz Moola has taken me to court and was granted an injunction against me, preventing me from working on anything Summer Eternal related until April 2025.”
“I have also received baseless legal threats from ZA/UM with whom Moola is collaborating against myself, Dora, Summer E and Dark Math Games. Today I learned press has been receiving anonymous tips insinuating there is conflict between myself and Dark Math. This is not the case. The Za/Moola — Riaz/UM alliance has been behind my legal struggles and silence as of late.”
Riaz Moola is the chairman of and investor in Longdue, one of the other successor studios which is currently developing a “psychogeographic RPG.” However, and this is rather confusing, PC Gamer claims to have been previously contacted by Moola using a Dark Math email. In that email, Moola’s signature lists him as a co-founder of Dark Math, another successor studio that Tuulik claims he is on good terms with.
Unlike the other studios, Dark Math Games have titled their project, XXX Nightshift. It’s unknown if Moola is associated with Dark Math and Longdue, or just the latter. All in all, this kind of in-fighting among leftist game developers is something that was actually parodied in Disco Elysium, making the situation all the more ironic.
Disco Elysium first launched in 2019 and sees you play the role of a detective investigating a murder. Critically acclaimed for its themes, art style, and largely combat-free gameplay, with a more complete version of the game, The Final Cut, launched in 2021.