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Disco Elysium directors accuse shareholders of fraud

Disco Elysium directors accuse shareholders of fraud

Two of the directors of hit indie title Disco Elysium have laid out some startling accusations against the shareholders in developer ZA/UM.

In a post on Medium, the title's director Robert Kurvitz and art director Aleksander Rostov have alleged that Estonian company Tütreke OÜ – helmed by Ilmar Kompus and Tõnis Haavel – took a majority stake in the studio fraudulently. The duo alleges that the company bought its majority holding in ZA/UM by using money taken from the developer itself. Haavel has apparently already been convicted of defrauding investors in a different company back in 2007.

As a result, Kurvitz and Rostov are reviewing their options, saying that it might be taking Kompus and Haavel to court, both for civil claims and criminal charges.

"Needless to say, it has been a very difficult time for us," the duo wrote.

"After five years of gruelling work we released Disco Elysium, a game beloved by millions. As our reward, we were summarily fired and cut off from our life’s work — the world of Elysium. The company we built has been looted, while our own earnings are insufficient even to cover legal fees."

This comes hot on the heels of Disco Elysium developer ZA/UM revealing why it fired a number of key members of staff, including Kurvitz and Rostov.


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.