Disco Elysium creative lead Robert Kurvitz was quietly fired from ZA/UM in late 2021, files lawsuit against them

[Ismaul]

being robbed of your life's work is gross injustice.

this site doesn't allow me to use the reddit button more than once on a single post, so could you post this again for me to rate it?

oy vey you're getting robbed of your life's work, what injustice!

 

[rusty_shackleford]

being robbed of your life's work is gross injustice.

this site doesn't allow me to use the reddit button more than once on a single post, so could you post this again for me to rate it?

oy vey you're getting robbed of your life's work, what injustice!

"I agreed to the terms of the contract and exactly what it said in the contract happened, how could this have happened to me?!"

Yes, I know it's wishful thinking to expect commies to act like responsible adults.

 

[Ismaul]

being robbed of your life's work is gross injustice.

this site doesn't allow me to use the reddit button more than once on a single post, so could you post this again for me to rate it?

oy vey you're getting robbed of your life's work, what injustice!

"I agreed to the terms of the contract and exactly what it said in the contract happened, how could this have happened to me?!"

Yes, I know it's wishful thinking to expect commies to act like responsible adults.

I meant you're getting robbed of your life work of using the reddit button repeatedly.

 

[Longes]

being robbed of your life's work is gross injustice.

this site doesn't allow me to use the reddit button more than once on a single post, so could you post this again for me to rate it?

oy vey you're getting robbed of your life's work, what injustice!

"I agreed to the terms of the contract and exactly what it said in the contract happened, how could this have happened to me?!"

Yes, I know it's wishful thinking to expect commies to act like responsible adults.

The sting is two-fold.

Firstly, Kurvitz wasn't robbed by some abstract men in suits. Kurvitz was robbed by a guy who's seemingly been his close friend for over a decade.
Secondly, it was one thing Kurvitz succeeded at. This is important to remember - ZA/UM were nobodies. They've failed as writers, they've failed as newspaper editors, they've failed as musicians. They've lived a life of talented boys and girls who've had nothing to show for their talent. I think Rostov is the only ZA/UM member who wasn't a complete failure, by virtue of not being involved in anything up until Disco. Although "Aleksander Rostov" is a pseudonym and I haven't found any history for him at all before Disco. So, Disco was their big breakthrough. They finally succeeded and succeeded massively. More than anyone ever. And then their IP got taken from them, lmao xd rip bozo.

 

[AwesomeButton]

You are talking about morals, he is being edgy about "what it said in the contract".

 

[rusty_shackleford]

edgy

Remember, for the yuropoor contracts are just suggestions. They are by nature devious and not to be trusted, their word means nothing.

 

[Camel]

being robbed of your life's work is gross injustice.

this site doesn't allow me to use the reddit button more than once on a single post, so could you post this again for me to rate it?

How is it any different from Avellone getting removed from Obsidian where he was one of the founders?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

being robbed of your life's work is gross injustice.

this site doesn't allow me to use the reddit button more than once on a single post, so could you post this again for me to rate it?

How is it any different from Avellone getting removed from Obsidian where he was one of the founders?

He resigned and nobody cried that he was robbed of his life work?

 

[Camel]

He resigned and nobody cried that he was robbed of his life work?

Look, Robert Kurvitz founded ZA/UM and he created Disco Elysium universe. Then he was fired because of unproven allegations.

I didn’t get anything when I left Obsidian. There were no share payouts, no equity, and this was in addition to the other logistical problems around the departure – the sudden cancellation of my health insurance, problems with my 401K, errors in Obsidian’s accounting, and several existing independent contracts they refused to uphold.

Realizing my family issues and the debts therein, however, they did make an attempt to leverage that into a far more confining separation agreement that would remove my right to work on RPGs, and my silence on all issues that could pertain to Obsidian or any other company they were involved with or the CEO had a % in (Fig, Zero Radius, Dark Rock Industries, etc.). This included an inability to critique games I’d worked on – much of my critiques on my own games tend to be blunt, and not being able to speak to them felt unnatural to me.

These situations look somewhat familiar.

 

[Roguey]

These situations look somewhat familiar.

The familiarity being "one was de-ownered (not fired, but he quit on his own because he was so angry) and the other fired for being chronically drunk at work."

 

[cvv]

 

[S.torch]

The familiarity being

Let's not get cherrypickers here. The familiarity is being backstabbed by corporate hounds, traitors and social media drones.
The "reason" is irrelevant, there's always an excuse for this sort of move. But everything it does is hiding the wish to take advantage of the creation of others and the hate (or fear) to their talent.

 

[Roguey]

The familiarity being

Let's not get cherrypickers here. The familiarity is being backstabbed by corporate hounds, traitors and social media drones.
The "reason" is irrelevant, there's always an excuse for this sort of move. But everything it does is hiding the wish to take advantage of the creation of others and the hate (or fear) to their talent.

If both managed to stay sober at work they'd both be at their former positions. The Obsidian owners were willing to tolerate Avellone's gripes for a decade.

 

[S.torch]

If both managed to stay sober at work they'd both be at their former positions. The Obsidian owners were willing to tolerate Avellone's gripes for a decade.

Hm... tolerate, maybe is not the correct word we're looking for here.

Remember that people who create are the artists: not the corporates and the drones. In both cases the latter took advantage of the talent, creations and work of the former. Only to dispose of them afterwards because (in their minds) they weren't needed anymore.

The only real difference between this and the case of Avellone is that one happened along many years in a row, in a slow process in which his name was put routinely to attract attention from fans. In this, lead creatives got ousted after 1 successful title only. In the past this would have been a process that happened after the corporation had various titles released, to then live at the reputation gained by the creatives when they got removed. They were used, not tolerated.

Though this sounds too pessimistic, they make the first right move making it now that they were ousted. Now they only need to register here and tell us the full story with details!

 

[Roguey]

Remember that people who create are the artists: not the corporates and the drones. In both cases the latter took advantage of the talent, creations and work of the former. Only to dispose of them afterwards because (in their minds) they weren't needed anymore.

The only real difference between this and the case of Avellone is that one happened along many years in a row, in a slow process in which his name was put routinely to attract attention from fans. In this, lead creatives got ousted after 1 successful title only. In the past this would have been a process that happened after the corporation had various titles released, to then live at the reputation gained by the creatives when they got removed. They were used, not tolerated.

Though this sounds too pessimistic, they make the first right move making it now that they were ousted. Now they only need to register here and tell us the full story with details!

Feargus wanted Avellone to keep writing for him, he just didn't want him to be an owner anymore. Free of Obsidian, he was able to contribute creatively to a lot of other projects and make a lot of money doing it.

Likewise with ZAUM I'm sure the money men would have been happy to have a monopoly on the new big name game writer if not for all the baggage that came with it. Like Avellone (until his cancellation), he is now free to pursue whatever he wants and make a lot of money doing it (until his own cancellation). If he had felt he was unfairly ousted, he would have had the attention of every game journalist in 2021. Instead he's kept completely silent for well over a year.

 

[Harthwain]

If he had felt he was unfairly ousted, he would have had the attention of every game journalist in 2021. Instead he's kept completely silent for well over a year.

Maybe he is drunk and depressed?

 

[AwesomeButton]

edgy

Remember, for the yuropoor contracts are just suggestions. They are by nature devious and not to be trusted, their word means nothing.

Since you're talking out of your ass...

I guess that's the kind of person who would rob his business partner & friend, if he can find a loophole. And then look at himself and say "that's me, a hard ass businessman".

 

[rusty_shackleford]

edgy

Remember, for the yuropoor contracts are just suggestions. They are by nature devious and not to be trusted, their word means nothing.

Since you're talking out of your ass...

I guess that's the kind of person who would rob his business partner & friend, if he can find a loophole. And then look at himself and say "that's me, a hard ass businessman".

"he robbed him!"
how?
"he... he just did!"

 

[Lyric Suite]

Who gives a fuck about investors and their money? Lmao what a wierd thing to complain about.

Agreed, they should have made DE without investors.

Where as you can make good games without talent?

Look how well pushing Avellone at the margin worked for Pillars of Eternity. Ho, but he is difficult to deal with! No shit like most artists are easy to handle.

Games being treated as product is part of the reason why the vast majority of them suck ass. I'm not saying one should ignore the money question, especially given how expensive games are to make, but surely SOME regard for talent has to be factored in somewhere.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Who gives a fuck about investors and their money? Lmao what a wierd thing to complain about.

Agreed, they should have made DE without investors.

Where as you can make good games without talent?

Look how well pushing Avellone at the margin worked for Pillars of Eternity. Ho, but he is difficult to deal with! No shit like most artists are easy to handle.

Games being treated as product is part of the reason why the vast majority of them suck ass. I'm not saying one should ignore the money question, especially given how expensive games are to make, but surely SOME regard for talent has to be factored in somewhere.

if disco elysium is the result of "talent", I'll take the games without talent

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

Remember that people who create are the artists: not the corporates and the drones. In both cases the latter took advantage of the talent, creations and work of the former. Only to dispose of them afterwards because (in their minds) they weren't needed anymore.

The only real difference between this and the case of Avellone is that one happened along many years in a row, in a slow process in which his name was put routinely to attract attention from fans. In this, lead creatives got ousted after 1 successful title only. In the past this would have been a process that happened after the corporation had various titles released, to then live at the reputation gained by the creatives when they got removed. They were used, not tolerated.

Though this sounds too pessimistic, they make the first right move making it now that they were ousted. Now they only need to register here and tell us the full story with details!

Feargus wanted Avellone to keep writing for him, he just didn't want him to be an owner anymore. Free of Obsidian, he was able to contribute creatively to a lot of other projects and make a lot of money doing it.

Likewise with ZAUM I'm sure the money men would have been happy to have a monopoly on the new big name game writer if not for all the baggage that came with it. Like Avellone (until his cancellation), he is now free to pursue whatever he wants and make a lot of money doing it (until his own cancellation). If he had felt he was unfairly ousted, he would have had the attention of every game journalist in 2021. Instead he's kept completely silent for well over a year.

I gather from Luiga's verbose ramblings that there is some sort of NDA that prevents Kurvitz and others from giving details.

 

[Roguey]

I gather from Luiga's verbose ramblings that there is some sort of NDA that prevents Kurvitz and others from giving details.

If Kurvitz signed a dumb NDA like that, that's on him. Avellone told Obsidian to fuck off when they tried to get him to sign a similar NDA.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

If Kurvitz signed a dumb NDA like that, that's on him.

how dare you expect him to be treated like a rational adult! this is literally fascism!

 

[Ismaul]

I gather from Luiga's verbose ramblings that there is some sort of NDA that prevents Kurvitz and others from giving details.

If Kurvitz signed a dumb NDA like that, that's on him. Avellone told Obsidian to fuck off when they tried to get him to sign a similar NDA.

Remember that to refuse the NDA, Avellone had to forgo shares payout and equity for his original investment and for being an owner since the start. Also, it wasn't just an NDA in his case, but a contract that would prevent him from working on RPGs ever again.

When the choice is get fucked or get fucked, can't blame a guy for choosing to get fucked.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I gather from Luiga's verbose ramblings that there is some sort of NDA that prevents Kurvitz and others from giving details.

If Kurvitz signed a dumb NDA like that, that's on him. Avellone told Obsidian to fuck off when they tried to get him to sign a similar NDA.

Remember that to refuse the NDA, Avellone had to forgo shares payout and equity for his original investment and for being an owner since the start. Also, it wasn't just an NDA in his case, but a contract that would prevent him from working on RPGs ever again.

When the choice is get fucked or get fucked, can't blame a guy for choosing to get fucked.

avellone didn't cuck, some random eurocommie did

Still, that attempt at leverage did cause me to re-evaluate aspects of my life. Realizing debt was affecting my decision, I instead focused on working as hard as possible to make up for the amount Obsidian tried to use as leverage to force a signature – and succeeded.

to be fair, commies are allergic to hard work