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Studio ZA/UM settles legal dispute with ex-Disco Elysium producer Kaur Kender

Former Disco Elysium producer Kaur Kender has reportedly repaid all debts owed to the studio and has divested all of his remaining shares in the company.

Morgan Shaver

March 14, 2023 11:55 AM

ZA/UM

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ZA/UM Studio has reportedly resolved an ongoing dispute with former Disco Elysium producer, Kaur Kender. As reported by outlets like GamesIndustry.biz, Kender is said to have repaid all debts owed to ZA/UM, and has also divested all of his remaining shares in the company.

“Also, per a court order, Kender has repaid CEO Ilmar Kompus for legal fees from a lawsuit that was eventually withdrawn back in December. Additionally, he's divested all his shares in the games company,” reports GamesIndustry.biz.

"I am thankful for the years of trust and cooperation with the team, which made Disco Elysium a successful project," said Kender in a recent statement. "After leaving my full-time role, I filed a lawsuit which I realized, after seeing the facts, was misguided."

In addition to the legal resolution with Kender, former employees Robert Kurvitz and Alexsander Rostov have dropped their previous “unfair dismissal” claims over lack of evidence. This comes after reports back in October 2022 of three former ZA/UM creators including Kurvitz, Aleksander, and Helen Hindpere claiming to have left the company “involuntarily.”

ZA/UM claims that despite these resolutions, it continues to face a “series of baseless allegations from former employees” though it also anticipates more claims to “fall apart under legal and factual scrutiny.” ZA/UM is also currently facing a lawsuit filed last month by Telomer, a company where the aforementioned Robert Kurvitz currently serves as a board member.

Moving forward, it’ll be interesting to see how ZA/UM tackles the latest challenges against it including the Telomer lawsuit. For more on ZA/UM’s resolution with Kaur Kender, be sure to read through the full report from GamesIndustry.biz.

Also brush up on the matter with some of our previous coverage including Disco Elysium writer Robert Kurvitz suing ZA/UM, and Robert Kurvitz and Aleksander Rostov previously claiming the money used to acquire a majority stake in Zaum Studio was “taken illegally” from Zaum Studio OU itself.

Morgan Shaver

Senior Editor

Morgan is a writer from the frozen wastelands of Maine who enjoys metal music, kpop, horror, and indie games. They're also a Tetris fanatic who's fiercely competitive in games like Tetris 99... and all games in general. But mostly Tetris. You can follow Morgan on Twitter @Author_MShaver.