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

[Latro]

There's our boy PrimeJunta!

oh it's that guy from twitter

 

[Harthwain]

I've seen what passes for pretty on this forum filled with queers and incels. Miss me with the critiques.

Normally I'd say "de gustibus non disputandum est", but if that's your response then I will say this: I am not suprised. You proved many times that you have a shit taste in almost everything and even worse sense of impartiality, which is matched only by your arrogance. So fuck your opinions.

 

[Roguey]

How old was the guy?

Kurvitz was born in 1984, she joined the collective in 2009 (it was a lit-fag thing before a game developer), so about 24-25.

 

[perfectslumbers]

Hold the fuck up, if ZA/UM was founded in 2016, does that mean she was born in 2002?

Video says "Around 2009 they started a new project called ZA/UM," so presumably she was 14 around 2009, not 2016.

 

[Latro]

How old was the guy?

Kurvitz was born in 1984, she joined the collective in 2009 (it was a lit-fag thing before a game developer), so about 24-25.

making a litfag collective to pick up 14 year olds is a clever scheme

 

[ItsChon]

I've seen what passes for pretty on this forum filled with queers and incels. Miss me with the critiques.

Normally I'd say "de gustibus non disputandum est", but if that's your response then I will say this: I am not suprised. You proved many times that you have a shit taste in almost everything and even worse sense of impartiality, which is matched only by your arrogance. So fuck your opinions.

Lol, looks like the butthurt finally bubbled over.

You're very similar to BruceVC, larping as someone that is open minded with nuanced views, when the truth is you're just a midwit that constantly oversimplifies things so you can wrap your puny intellect around them. It borders on outright delusion often times.

Admittedly, this could have been a moment where you could have got me. Objectively she is not "quite pretty", she is merely "pretty". Probably a 6.5 on a scale out of ten. Codexer's hyperbole leads me to reciprocate in term. Regardless, this little tantrum was quite amusing to read. Maybe now you'll be able to unclench your asshole when you see one of my posts.

 

[Sizzle]

Josh Sawyer gets mentioned at around 2:00:40! Always knew he was to blame for everything

 

[Theodora]

No idea there was a documentary about this. Looking forward to watching it, as despite all the retards on the Codex, DE is one of the greatest RPGs ever made.

It was only released four hours ago (why I came to this thread, but I should've known someone would've beat me to it).

Grateful anyone bothered to put this many hours into addressing the topic. Only part way through it, but so far he (and whoever is behind the scenes) seem to be doing a good job of standing back and looking at all the moving parts without getting dragged along by personal feelings on the matter.

Even getting interviews with both parties seems unusual with these stories, usually at least one party stonewalls.

 

[Infinitron]

Josh Sawyer gets mentioned at around 2:00:40! Always knew he was to blame for everything

Larian as well.

 

[Harthwain]

You're very similar to BruceVC, larping as someone that is open minded with nuanced views

Compared to you, I am. Not that it's much of an achievement.

Admittedly, this could have been a moment where you could have got me. Objectively she is not "quite pretty", she is merely "pretty". Probably a 6.5 on a scale out of ten.

So she's fucking AVERAGE? Just like I said? Thanks for proving my point that your opinions are shit if you find 6.5/10 to be "pretty".

Edit:

The average of 10 is 5.5. 6.5 is a point more than that, so slightly above average. That's still what I consider average in my book.

Maybe now you'll be able to unclench your asshole when you see one of my posts.

Now I am going to treat your posts like little turds they are. And they will receive as much effort on my part going forward. Enjoy, I guess.

 

[Maxie]

Josh Sawyer gets mentioned at around 2:00:40! Always knew he was to blame for everything

Larian as well.

whoever is namedropped there is part of the problem. let's not shy away from the truth. SAWYER, ZAUM, and SWEN collaborate to KILL VIDEO GAMES

 

[Infinitron]

Josh Sawyer gets mentioned at around 2:00:40! Always knew he was to blame for everything

 

[0sacred]

Wait, Prime Junta was involved with Disco Elysium? I always knew that if he got into gamedev, it would be a shit game.

 

[Haba]

Wait, Prime Junta was involved with Disco Elysium? I always knew that if he got into gamedev, it would be a shit game.

Good thing he joined after the game was released, thus Disco turned out great.

Bad thing for the studio, though.

 

[Infinitron]

Wait, Prime Junta was involved with Disco Elysium? I always knew that if he got into gamedev, it would be a shit game.

Good thing he joined after the game was released, thus Disco turned out great.

Bad thing for the studio, though.

He did provide some volunteer assistance with its development before formally joining, for which he was included in the credits.

 

[Roguey]

More thoughts:

Around the 1:08:00 mark Argo mentioned that Helen was a very hands-off leader who barely did anything compared to Captain Bligh-Kurvitz and the guy who followed her.

At 1:13:00 it's mentioned that several employees consider Justin to be the lead writer of the final cut even though Helen got the credit for it. Shortly before that it's confirmed that Helen and Robert started dating before the creation of ZA/UM the company (likely when she was still a teenager).

Robert lied about reviewing someone's work so he could take a two month vacation with his pals. It's also alleged that he did absolutely no work for two years before his firing.

Junta confirmed that Kurvitz tried to convince him to illegally give him Disco's source code so he could bring it to a new studio.

Kurviz's new studio is funded by the Chinese.

Hindpere had to call NHS for Kurvitz because of the day-long state of shock he was in when he finally realized the ramifications of the contract he had signed.

The ZA/UM employees claim that Robert wanted to steal the source code for Larian! Larian had no comment. Sneaky Swen, this isn't the first time he's been involved in shady dealings.

At 2:17:00 they catch Robert in a lie claiming that no one ever brought up his behavior before he was fired. Robert is accused of being unprofessional and patriarchal with regard to his groomed girlfriend (who defends him). They really tear into him for dismissing the accusations of bad behavior made by ZA/UM employees as just being a conspiracy against him for being a writer and a commie.

 

[Alienman]

The ZA/UM employees claim that Robert wanted to steal the source code for Larian! Larian had no comment. Sneaky Swen, this isn't the first time he's been involved in shady dealings.

Curious. What kind of shady dealings?

 

[Roguey]

The ZA/UM employees claim that Robert wanted to steal the source code for Larian! Larian had no comment. Sneaky Swen, this isn't the first time he's been involved in shady dealings.

Curious. What kind of shady dealings?

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/larian-general-discussion-thread.101891/post-8143076

 

[Maxie]

remember when kurvitz was a fucking disaster drunk who took part in kaur kender's ministry of culture tax money laundering scheme then pretended he's too insane to understand what's going on

 

[Latro]

had to call NHS for Kurvitz because of the day-long state of shock he was in when he finally realized the ramifications of the contract he had signed.

you would think a "professional" writer would bother to read a contract

 

[Tyrr]

had to call NHS for Kurvitz because of the day-long state of shock he was in when he finally realized the ramifications of the contract he had signed.

you would think a "professional" writer would bother to read a contract

He is a writer, not a reader.

 

[Latro]

had to call NHS for Kurvitz because of the day-long state of shock he was in when he finally realized the ramifications of the contract he had signed.

you would think a "professional" writer would bother to read a contract

He is a writer, not a reader.

the worst of all sins for any writer

 

[Axioms]

Robert Kurwitz is a communist who was taking on faith the good intentions of his comrades. That's dumb, and it may or may not cost him in court, which is not about ethics but about power, but it doesn't mean the money guys are not bad people. They are clearly scum.

As far as his girlfriend, she's 10 years younger than him, which is a decent gap but not abnormal. Legality of age of consent stuff aside, 16 in Estonia is older than 16 in America, on average. Regarding her appearance, which isn't super relevant, she isn't a supermodel but she isn't "aesthetically unfortunate" either. Kurwitz was probably attracted to her for her politics and perhaps positive opinion of him. Doesn't seem like an obvious predatorial grooming situation imo. Questionable maybe.

I think that ZA/UM obviously can't make another Elysium game without significant controversy. Whether the financial guys are convicted or not they are clearly worse people than Kurwitz but with superior social skills. If they were smart they'd make another game in the same style without using the Elysium IP. Kurwitz lacks any real claim to the game source code. Just write a new story and shift the art theme a bit. If Kurwitz wasn't a critical part of the success of Disco Elysium then their next game should be perfectly commercially viable. Plenty of their staffers should be somewhat democratic socialist or social democratic and their audience is much larger than full on communists so they can even tell a *similar* story without being shady as long as it is distinct from Disco Elysium. If anything the smart play would be to give Kurwitz his IP back and let him make a shit Prosper quality game on his own. Most people would abandon him and go with the more commercial product at that point and ZA/UM would avoid all the drama.

Sending nasty messages to low level or even mid level staffers is not a good choice and even Kurwitz admits that. People should cut it out. Maybe if there was an operation goal it would be more justifiable but it isn't going to achieve anything concrete so it just makes the community look bad for no gain.

 

[Dadd]

So is sending nasty messages to high level staffers a good choice?

 

[Axioms]

So is sending nasty messages to high level staffers a good choice?

To the main two money guys? I wouldn't recommend it myself but it is much more morally defensible. Legality will vary by jurisdiction.