ZA/UM, the Estonian studio behind Disco Elysium, has announced layoffs affecting up to 32 employees across all departments - roughly two months after its follow-up game, Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, launched in May. The studio confirmed the news on July 18, 2026, framing the decision as a direct consequence of the game's sales falling far short of what was needed to sustain the team.
The Studio's Own Words
In its statement, ZA/UM said it had "served redundancy or at-risk notices impacting up to 32 of our colleagues across all departments at ZA/UM Studio." The studio pointed directly to the game's commercial performance, saying it "has not enabled us to sustain a studio of our current size." ZA/UM added that it continues to consult with representatives of the ZA/UM Workers' Alliance throughout the process.
Acclaimed, But Not Enough Players Bought It
The layoffs are a particularly hard pill given the game's reception. Zero Parades: For Dead Spies reviewed strongly here at launch, and critical response across the board was largely positive. But acclaim didn't translate into sales: according to SteamDB, the espionage RPG peaked at roughly 3,177 concurrent players around launch and has steadily declined since - a modest number for a studio of ZA/UM's size and ambitions.
A Studio Still Recovering From Turmoil
This isn't ZA/UM's first round of cuts. The studio also went through layoffs in 2024, and its recent history has been shadowed by the fallout from 2021, when the creative team behind the original Disco Elysium - including writers Robert Kurvitz and Helen Hindpere - was pushed out of the company amid an ownership dispute. Zero Parades was meant to prove ZA/UM could deliver acclaimed work without its founding voices. Critically, it largely succeeded. Commercially, it wasn't enough.
Why It Matters
Zero Parades' trajectory is an uncomfortably familiar one in 2026: a well-reviewed, narrative-driven RPG that simply couldn't find a big enough audience to justify its studio's headcount. It's the same pressure that has hit acclaimed developers across the industry this year, and it lands hardest on the people who made the thing critics praised. ZA/UM says it remains committed to future projects - but for up to 32 people, that commitment comes too late.
