ZA/UM, the studio behind Disco Elysium and its spiritual successor Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, has announced it will lay off up to 32 staff "across all departments". The studio said the redundancies were driven by Zero Parades' weak commercial performance, despite the game receiving critical acclaim, and that its current size was no longer sustainable. The cuts mark another difficult chapter for a studio already notorious for years of bitter public and legal disputes since Disco Elysium's acclaimed 2019 release.

ZA/UM last reported around 100 employees as of October 2025, when staff formed the UK's first recognised video game developers' union, represented by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain, and the company says it has consulted with the ZA/UM Workers' Alliance throughout the redundancy process. The announcement has drawn heavy criticism on social media given the studio's turbulent history, which includes fraud accusations from former Disco Elysium creatives Robert Kurvitz and Aleksander Rostov against management figures Ilmar Kompus and Tõnis Haavel, countered by allegations of misconduct against the fired staff. Ongoing legal battles, extensive documentary reporting, and the departure of former developers to at least four new studios have kept the saga in the spotlight.