Disco Elysium developer ZA/UM has confirmed to Insider Gaming that it has made the decision to layoff employees go amid the cancellation of project X7 at the studio.
Though not confirming the amount of people let go, the studio says that it’s hard to lose people, especially when it comes to making changes when internal projects change.
“As with all studios, we adapt the size of our team to the work underway, growing when we start a new project and shrinking if one is cancelled. It is always hard to lose talented colleagues, and we thank those leaving for their many contributions to ZA/UM,” the studio told Insider Gaming.
In addition to the statement, Insider Gaming has received the entire memo that ZA/UM CEO Ilmar Kompus shared with staff at the company.
The memo reads:
“Dear all,
“Despite concerted efforts over the past eight months by our management team and the X7 disciplines, following consultation with our management team, I have taken the difficult decision to cancel X7. This decision, unlike the pause on Project P1, will unfortunately most likely lead to redundancies within our studio.
“With the cancellation of X7 we are proposing to reshape our team to support our two remaining games. This adjustment will almost certainly lead to redundancies, mostly affecting the X7 team but also our non-development teams and non-X7 projects.
“We are approaching this sensitive issue with the utmost care and respect. We will be initiating a formal redundancy consultation procedure with employees of Zaum Studio Limited who are at risk of redundancy, in accordance with UK law. If you’re one of these employees, you will very shortly receive a Slack message, email, and a calendar invite for a meeting with your Lead and HR to discuss the next steps. Any individual whose role is affected, but who is not employed by Zaum Studio Limited, for example those employed by Deel or in our other EU locations, will be contacted separately about the procedure that will be followed. During this transition period, let’s maintain professionalism and support each other, upholding our studio values.“
News of the layoffs at the Disco Elysium developers were first reported on Thursday by GLHF.
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