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2 months after releasing Zero Parades, Studio ZA/UM is laying off employees: ‘Its commercial performance has not enabled us to sustain a studio of our current size’
Studio ZA/UM, the Estonian developer behind Disco Elysium, is laying off staff just two months after releasing its follow-up title, Zero Parades. The studio said the game's commercial performance has not been strong enough to sustain its current size, marking a further setback for a studio that has faced years of turmoil since its acclaimed debut.
Details of the exact number of job losses were not specified, but the studio confirmed the cuts in a statement acknowledging that Zero Parades had underperformed commercially since its release roughly two months ago. The layoffs add to ZA/UM's turbulent recent history, following internal disputes and departures among the original Disco Elysium team in the years after that game's success.
In short
- ZA/UM is cutting jobs after Zero Parades' release two months ago.
- The studio cites weak commercial performance as the cause.
- It follows years of turmoil at the Disco Elysium developer.
Explained simply
Studio ZA/UM is an Estonian video game developer. The studio gained international recognition for Disco Elysium, a role-playing game released in 2019 that received widespread critical acclaim. The studio has struggled with internal instability since that success, with disputes and departures amongst the original creative team disrupting its operations throughout the following years.
Zero Parades is the studio's follow-up game, launched roughly two months ago. The game has not achieved sufficient commercial sales to support the studio's current workforce and operational scale.
Independent game studios depend entirely on the commercial success of their releases to fund ongoing operations. For ZA/UM, which has already experienced years of internal challenges, a commercially underperforming release creates significant financial pressure.