It feels like Disco Elysium has been associated with behind-the-scenes mayhem almost since it entered our lives, and while it comes in various forms and involves different groups, it generally follows some similar themes. It’s often very complex – as they say/another person said video game drama usually is – sometimes litigious, sometimes really weird, if still clearly worthy of being taken seriously.
Anyway, remember those three studios who announced last month that they were developing a new game with a bit of Disco Elysium? Longdue, XXX Nightshift developer Dark Math Games and Summer Eternal (the latter of whom we recently interviewed)? Well, a new report delves into some pretty complicated drama between the three of them.
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The report from IGN reads like a roller coaster ride, delving into the connections between the three, with both Longdue and Dark Math reportedly having tech entrepreneur Riaz Moola involved in some of the financial aspects of the business. IGN also reports that Tuulik and Summer Eternal co-founder Dora Klindíiça are working at Dark Math Games and CoGrammar (Longdue’s parent company) respectively this year.
The pair allegedly left Dark Math in July 2024, which was led by former Disco Elysium executive producer Kaur Kender, who was involved in a legal dispute with ZA/UM over intellectual property, and was resolved last year. , citing “creative differences.”
This is where things get weird. IGN reports that while Tuulik and Klindíiça were working as game directors and narrative directors on the Dark Math game XXX Nightshift, Tuulik accused Kender of showing him and other team members nude photos of Kender’s ex-wife. Kendall told IGN that the photos were purported real-life inspirations for the characters on XXX Night Shift, but denied that the woman was nude in the photos, insisting that she was wearing a bikini in some photos and fully clothed in others .
In a statement to IGN from Dark Math, the studio primarily expressed a desire to move away from past events. In a Twitter post following the release of the report, Tulik said he shares the same view when it comes to the specific issue of dark mathematics.
After this, there seems to be another incident between Tuulik, Klindžić and CoGrammar. IGN reports that Tuulik serves as a consultant on the Longdue game, but the developer denied this was the case in the aforementioned Twitter post. Regardless, both men eventually left and Tulik resigned, before Landu successfully obtained an injunction in England and Wales preventing Tulik and Clind Ika from continuing to work. It took six months to work on the game for Eternal Summer, based on what happened contractually during the split – both parties naturally have their own version of events.
Then, here’s the final piece of the puzzle. Tuulik told IGN that he resigned from Disco Elysium studio ZA/UM and was not fired as previously reported, but instead filed legal action against the developer, alleging breach of contract, breach of confidentiality and copyright infringement. The report cites sources as saying that a playable version of Disco Elysium spin-off X7 is the crux of the matter, with Tuulik allegedly showing it to Dark Math and Longdue employees via a USB stick. Tulik denies doing it.
So, what does this all mean for Disco Elysium fans? Well, that remains to be seen, except perhaps to provide more ammunition for the notion that the true spiritual successor to Disco Elysium is a collection of controversies, accusations, and weird incidents we’ve seen involving disco or disco-like things. outside. past few years.
