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Our Disco Elysium Documentary
🕑 Added 2025-01-06 19:44:41 +0000 UTCSince its release in October of 2019, our community has consistently asked us to reach out to the developers of Disco Elysium to document its development.
Sadly the story of Disco Elysium did not end with its breakthrough critical and commercial acclaim. In the intervening years the creatives behind this project have been embroiled in spider-web of strained relationships, accusations and legal battles. A story too long and complex to summarize in an opening paragraph.
We've actually been talking to these folks for a few years now. And by "these folks" I mean Robert Kurvitz, Aleksander Rostov and Helen Hindpere. If you know anything about the post-launch controversy surrounding ZA/UM - the art collective turned studio responsible for Disco Elysium - it's most likely the fact that these three were fired in October of 2022. The justification for their firings has been the focal point of much of the online discourse surrounding the game and studio for the past two and a half years.
My first call with Robert was a one-on-one back in the Spring of 2023. It had been facilitated by a mutual friend of both myself and Robert who was eager for us to collaborate. Truth be told, both of us were wary of each other. I had been wanting to interview Kurvitz ever since Jeremy first brought Disco Elysium to my attention. I'd loved Kurvitz' appearance on GameSpot's Audio Logs in 2020 - to my knowledge his only appearance on camera in the mainstream games press after the game's release. And (I am told) a spotlight on his particular talents he was later lambasted for by the studio's leadership.
The reason I was wary is that over the past eight years I've worked hard to make sure Noclip is not used as a tool of marketing propaganda. It's difficult to give the spotlight to developers without constantly making videos that feel promotional in nature. We learned those lessons with our preview-piece on Fallout 76. We try our best to document games long after their release and make sure not to platform bad actors. When we do cover games pre-release (Hades) we establish visual and narrative rules to make sure the videos impart as much earned authenticity as possible. But with allegations and lawsuits swirling around, I had no interest in becoming a tool to sway public opinion. Regardless of the direction.
The very nature of this initial meeting let me know that Kurvitz felt similarly, and with good reason. What we were proposing was a documentary about a game from a studio he was fired from. A studio with whom he, and several of his colleagues, are embroiled in legal action with to this day. The world of Elysium was once Kurvitz' baby, but Disco is no longer his. We both needed to understand our motivations and see if there was any common ground.
And so we did, over the next few months I talked to Kurvitz remotely on several occasions. Sometimes talking about game development but often not. We'd chat about European politics, religion, our childhoods, music, love, sports. At times it felt like being stuck in an intellectual boxing match a weight class higher than I was comfortable with. Robert is an exciting, charismatic person to talk to - something that can be both a blessing and a curse for a documentarian. His ability to weave narrative is incredibly strong. Those of us who make stories about reality are distrustful of such people. Perhaps we are good judges of character - or maybe we just hate giving over control.
As an aside it's also a wonderfully humiliating experience to be out-vocabularied by somebody who speaks English as a second language. Though you're several paragraphs into this post so you've long figured out who the better writer is.
As time passed Aleksander Rostov (Artist) and Helen Hindpere (Writer) joined our calls, and we started to talk more directly about our motivations to tell this story. For them there had never been an opportunity to talk about their greatest artistic work in detail - save for the game's limited edition art book which hides behind an eye-wateringly expensive Collector's Edition of the game. Yes, we bought a copy so we could film it - please support us on Patreon!
Robert wanted to emulate the creators of his favorite games in sharing development lessons. What he thought the team got right, and crucially, what they got wrong. So much of the trio's time these days is spent in bitter disputes surrounding the history of the game. It appeared to me that they longed for an opportunity to express their feelings about the project away from the legal turmoil that had long-occupied that part of their shared history.
As for my motivations; Disco Elysium is a modern classic. And while much of the discourse around the game focuses on wars of money, words and intellectual property - I didn't want to miss an opportunity to preserve the story of one of the greatest video games of our time.
One unnegotiable I communicated to Robert was that I wanted to highlight the work of everyone on the team - regardless of if we talked to them or not. The original team behind Disco is quite small and while I wanted to talk to more of them, I knew many would be unavailable or disinterested. The trio had no problem with this. It seemed that reconciliation was a motivation we could all get behind. It's certainly a flavor of propaganda I can at least stomach.
We were in a good place to start organizing our interviews - and then the People Make Games video dropped.
What I didn't realize then was that around the time I started talking to Kurvitz he had recorded an interview with People Make Games in which my friend and colleague Chris Bratt (who hosted a Noclip on Creative Assembly) had questioned him about allegations of workplace misconduct alleged by some former colleagues. When myself and Robert's mutual friend had convinced him to jump on a call with me, we didn't realize it was in the shadow of that interview. This was likely his motivation for wanting to feel me out.
Once the People Make Games video was released in May of 2023, both myself and Robert had no interest in doing interviews. The online discourse around the three, the studio and the lawsuits had reached a new zenith. Allegations had been made, relationships had been damaged, and it was clear to me that there was a war of public opinion going on.
The video took me by surprised too. I watched it twice the day it went up, fascinated by what I had heard from the other side of the court. I called Chris on Discord immediately after I'd watched it the first time and we exchanged notes. The Robert and Rostov in his documentary were very different to the ones I'd spoken to. Robert was angry, confused and hurt. Rostov barely spoke in the PMG interview, which was far from the gregarious, jovial artist I'd chatted to online. In the PMG piece it looked as if Robert wasn't allowing the meek Rostov to speak. To me it looked like one friend trying to protect another. Perhaps the least objectionable truth is somewhere in the middle.
I had originally planned to reach out to ZA/UM to talk to some of the original developers who were still at studio - but by this stage I deeply mistrusted their leadership. I also had a knot in my stomach trying to figure out the perspectives and motivations of some of the people who had been interviewed - both in the People Make Games piece, and in other publications since. It seemed clear to me that there were some hidden wars going on - either an aspect of the lawsuit(s) or interpersonal issues that were muddy, opaque. Lingering bitterness? Professional survival? There was too much going on for me to get a good read - and though some of the allegations were more serious, some others seemed like schoolyard handbags. This was all very messy.
I was also confused by many of the statements from the studio leadership that made little sense to me given what I had learned over the previous months. I believe strongly in accountability and justice, but I also understand the power of video to cement narrative. Chris and the team at PMG had conducted brave work in service of trying to uncover the truth behind an incredibly complicated and dynamic situation. They approached the investigation with honest intentions but were now fielding intense criticism online for what many said was a mixing of two largely separate stories; one about IP theft and another about workplace misconduct. ZA/UM would argue the two were connected, but then, of course they would.
Some of the criticisms of PMG's documentary were in good faith, but much of it was not. I am weary of internet tribalism and the drama-bait that motivates so many clicks on YouTube's so it's important to me that people do not interpret our documentary as a response to their piece. We obviously don't ignore the accusations and we talked to our interviewees about the culture and communication during development. But Noclip's mission has always been to tackle the broad scope of games development and allow viewers to come to their own conclusions. We don't attempt to communicate an objective truth. Only to color in as many shades of the canvas as we can, so that perhaps you can squint and get an idea of what games development is like. To promise anything more would be a lie. At the end of the day, you're watching a YouTube video - you're not in the room making the game. None of us are.
I gave Robert, Rostov and Helen space, and over the coming year ZA/UM were battered by contradictory accusations, fired most of the staff, and cancelled several projects.
None of the original Disco Elysium team works at ZA/UM anymore. I don't know if anyone works there anymore. From what I've learned the studio doesn't have an office anymore. I suspect this story is far from over.
EDITORS NOTE FOR ABOVE: For clarities sake I've since been told by other sources that the remote ZA/UM team still employs a decent number of people - both remote and in studio. My use of the phrase "original Disco Elysium" has also been interpreted in a few ways so let me clarify that some people who worked on DE over the years are still employed by ZA/UM. Including one person who I consider part of the original team. I had heard otherwise, so my apologies for that.
Fast forward to April, 2024. I don't know what happened - maybe my daughter had said something funny during breakfast, or the sun was shining at the right angle - but when I sat down to start work that morning I just started typing an email to Robert's producer. "Disco - Round 2" read the subject line. I remembered a year earlier Robert had suggested we film in the summertime so I could enjoy the long summer days of peak northern hemisphere living. As the three of them are located back in Tallinn, capital city of their native Estonia. Just a short walk from the original building where Disco Elysium was birthed.
He responded. The trio were down. I booked the flights. Tallinn in July.
I was flying over to conduct three interviews - but given the weight of the story, the complexity of all that had happened, and how personal each telling of this past was likely to be - I decided to go solo and spend a full week in the city with the team. I spent my time in Tallinn talking to locals, hanging around the trio's new studio, getting access to the old one, exploring abandoned buildings at sunrise and forest cemeteries at sundown. I talked to people who work with them, and walked with Helen and Rostov through their childhood neighborhoods. I didn't interview Robert until my final day in town.
Also I kept finding myself in locations from the film TENET - which may be the worst movie I like. I don't need it to make sense, did you see that car un-crash backwards? That's cinema baby.
The week was productive. We had a lot of detailed, honest conversations about the project. Our documentary on Disco Elysium will dive deep into the formation of the ZA/UM art collective. It'll tell the story of the early pen and paper campaigns that inspired Disco. It explores the development of the game, it's mechanics, art style and writing. And it tells the story of a group of friends who made something incredible - the good times and the bad. They also supplied us with loads of never-before-seen photos of footage from development. We're complimenting our Tallinn-based interviews with Kurvitz, Rostov and Hindpere with other voices too - some of whom haven't been recorded yet.
Our goal, as ever, is to document the development of this game with as much detail and heart as possible. I'll warn you now, the patron-exclusive extended interviews are going to be pretty fantastic on these ones.
We still have a bunch of work to do, but we hope to get our story on Disco Elysium out into the world in the next two months. It's going to be long. It might be one video, or split into episodes. But we know this is the one opportunity to tell this story so we want to ensure we do it right.
If you value our work to preserve the history of games, please consider becoming a Patron. We are a small independent team who don't have shitty corporate owners or stick adds all over our videos. We do this work because we think it's important. If you agree, we'd really value your support.
Thanks so much for reading this. If you have any questions stick them in the comments below and I'll do my best to answer them.
Danny
Comments
Helen H
Robert Kurvitz groomed and raped Helen Hindpere at 14 years old. No support for pedophiles.
Helen H
Robert Kurvitz groomed and raped Helen Hindpere at 14 years old.
Mark B
Sounds intriguing, I’ll watch it for that one when it lands.
OMLT
I'm both super happy that you're taking on the occasion, and I love what you do (been listening to the podcast for years now, been watching the docs since... well since the docs about The Witcher 3, FFXIV, Doom 2016... Almost the beginning). Now with that being said (that I'm a massive fan of your work basically and that I want to say what I'm about to say in good faith) I'm very wary of what I'm going to watch. I feel like I was one of the few that *actually* felt like PMG did fantastic work there, because while they did make the decision (mistake?) to intertwine narratives, And while I'm pretty sure we can all agree to the sentiment of artists being robbed of their IP... I'm also quite convinced that, it's not because people are supremely talented and very charismatic, that they cannot ALSO be extremely and supremely toxic and have some sort of sway over people. To me, the only person that I happen to sorta, kinda believe seems to not be here (Argo Tuulik) And while, again, I do not put in doubt the artistic talent of the trio you've interviewed here, I'm also just reminding people that life is often about MULTIPLE things being true at once. And being very talented individuals can certainly be true, their art stolen by management and a dude who has a connection with shady businessman and politicians But those talented individuals can also be very, very, toxic individuals. To be honest, I'm preparing myself to be quite disappointed with this, but I'm sure it'll be at the very least extremely informative regarding the making of Disco Elysium. And I understand, quite well (having worked with creatives, and also having worked as a journalist) that one might not want to be at the center of a drama fest like PMG found themselves. But one more and final time : reality is complex and sometimes, people can at the same time be very interesting but also be quite toxic people and maybe everyone's actually not who they appear to be (and THAT'S what was a key success in the PMG video in my opinion). In any case, I will be watching the doc. And I can only thank Danny and Jeremy, Frank and Jesse for their work over the years, that's for sure.
RobToEarth
Take a breath. I'm sure Danny and the team appreciate helpful and constructive feedback, but maybe don't be such a dick about it.
Drew
As ever, Danny and team, your work is thoughtful, considerate, and thorough. Thanks for these advance thoughts and background info on this highly-anticipated project. Excited to see y’all exercise your considerable talents in telling this story.
Drew
Dude, he’s apologized for the error and clarified he’s doing more background work on this—which includes more than hearing from one person in the comments of a Patreon post. Danny and the NoClip team have demonstrated they deserve the benefit of the doubt when it comes to journalistic integrity and getting the facts as correct as can be reasonably expected of a human team. May I suggest you might be overreacting a bit, because of your personal connection, to what is ultimately a pretty harmless, and since corrected, observation in a post that is otherwise thorough and thoughtful about an extremely complex topic?
Connor 'Dirtbag Chimichonga' McDonald
Phew, for a while there I was worried the post was ultimately going to announce the documentary was cancelled. Great work on this, sounds like an absolute clusterfuck of navigating public opinion. Just keep doing your best, you guys are doing great. I am so sorry to mention this, but some part of my background in words is compelling me to do so: there's a SMALL, teeny-tiny, teensy-weensy, homophonic typo in the paragraph that starts with "The week was productive." Near the end, you said "complimenting", but I think you meant "complementing." I am so sorry I'm like this.
Ian Fisher - Tabletop RPG Music
Happy to see an edit in the post, but I do wonder what your definition of "original team" is exactly? Because even your edit excludes many people who worked on the original release of Disco Elysium by claiming only one of the "original" team remains at ZA/UM. Also your edit doesn't correct the fact that you said they don't have an office. If that is the case then my wife must be hallucinating whenever she goes into work.
Noclip
I've since just been told that by somebody else too - I thought he had also left. So that one was an error on my part.
Ian Fisher - Tabletop RPG Music
An example (one of many) - the artist who did the thought cabinet art is still at ZA/UM. If that doesn’t count as the “original team” then I don’t know what does, unless the original team is Robert’s D&D game.
Noclip
Sorry for offending you, I qualified both statements ("I don't know if" and "from what I've learned") because it was information I wasn't sure about given the studios lack of communication and general opaqueness. I also think we're likely splitting hairs over what constitutes "the original team". In any case I wish your wife and her colleagues the best. I appreciate that they find themselves in a very challenging situation that was not of their making.
PowerPilgrim
I'll be interested in this, especially after the PMG doc as I've painted these three as complete slackers. Especially around the final cut era. Yes there is alot of shadeiness around the the shareholders drama, etc but as a Dev in the industry I'm all about the the dev perspective and that team got shafted.
Ian Fisher - Tabletop RPG Music
I’m a big NoClip fan but quite disappointed by this post. I hope the doc is better researched.
Ian Fisher - Tabletop RPG Music
It’s very poor research to suggest that none of the original Disco Elysium team still work at ZA/UM, and bordering on conspiracy to suggest that “maybe no one works there”. My wife works there, a bunch of her colleagues are from the original Disco team, they do have an office but only a small one because the company operates remotely.
Mikoláš Fišer
TBH, I really need some closure like this after PMG video because Disco has been covered with so much bitterness over time that it is hard for me to even play the game.
Luke Dudney
Amazing article Danny, thanks for articulating so well and confirming my mental model of what you and Noclip are all about. This is 100% the type of work and content that keeps me as a Patreon supporter for the past 7 years and counting.
GiantPurplePen15
The history behind this studio feels as messy as Harry's history in the game. This video is going to be as fascinating as the one PMG put out.
Butterbeans
Well damn, Danny. Great writing. Have me hooked
Major Powers
That was a great fuckin read. Well done!
Danny Hinrichs
Can't wait!
Amit Netanel
I was reading the entire post expecting some kind of drama, cancellation or anything - lucky me, I got only the thrill and none of the disappointment.
IRIDYSCENZIA
Awesome job! Keep it up! 👊💯❤️
Ellis
Two months to finally start the game, nice! Tremendous article, Danny. You really captured the complexity of it all!
Malford
Looking forward to it! For what it's worth, I know two people who work at ZA/UM so they do still have employees at least
Jordi Scharp
Fuck yeah, can’t wait! ❤️
Martin Tsang
This article could have been the documentary, with all the twists and turns therein
Jake
Great stuff guys, keep up the good work
August Rulewich
Reading this made me go and up my support level. I love the work your team does, and am especially excited to see this documentary. Disco Elysium is one of my favorite games, it's such an odd thing that feels both immensely introspective of the greater world and also intensely naval gazing. It makes you at once think about world and your life in a different light, and wonder at the ego behind it's assertions and ideas. Or maybe they were just high when they made it. But also it's just gorgeous to look at. It's all the things I love about art in general (and it reminds me of Kentucky Route Zero and Dear Esther though I think is more successful than both of those at engaging the audience with it's world and what it has to say). I was very interested in PMG's video when it came out, and I also am a big supporter of their work (now with upgrading my support here I think your two channels are my highest contributions on Patreon). But I would be lying if I didn't acknowledge that their video has colored my enjoyment of the game. Games, like any art, at the end of the day are reflections of their creators, and all the mess that comes with the process. I say this as someone in a creative field myself. It is unfortunate this particular process seems to have been so damaging to those involved, even now years later. I look forward to your insights and as always have tremendous respect for the work you do. Thanks Danny (and crew).
Daav Valentaten
Previous to last paragraph: The abbreviation of advertisements is ads, one d. I'm, also, very excited about this passionate documentary that clearly has had a lot of thought put into it.
Bavo Debraekeleer
Exactly
Will Bryceson
Fwiw, I’m a huge fan of the way you write about this. I support the lot of you because you give a shit, in output, quality and journalism. Take your time, when it’s done it’s done.
Josh LaBaw
That's heavy stuff. This is why I keep sticking around. I believe in Danny & the teams skills & ability to read a situation to get a story as free from propaganda as possible.
John
Wow, exciting announcement folks. Can’t wait!
ThunderSnake
The vibes you create in just this article are immaculate. I mainly stick around for the podcasts, but your Hades and FFXIV docs are some of my favourite works of videography in general. Eager to see how this one shakes out. It will probably be quite influential in itself.
rizen
Holy shit Danny! That's one hell of a roller coaster to get this story told. Whenever I hear people say games journalism is dead, I just say the best ones went independent and that's so obviously clear here. Thanks for investing so much time in telling the human story, not just one that would get the most clicks.
Everdred
When I first started reading this I was very concerned that this couldn’t be done with proper sensitivity for the storm that the PMG doc unearthed. After finishing I think my fears were unfounded. Can’t wait to see it!
Dan Reeter
Thanks for the post Danny! Really looking forward to what comes out of this. I can't get over the irony of the endlessly complex occurrences branching out of the single event of the creation of Disco Elysium.
The Nth Review
What a fucking mess. Bless you for sorting it out.
Perry Russell
YES
Dimensional Lord
This is a much needed documentary! I’m working with the narrator of disco on my own audiobook and seeing this iconic game covered makes me double down on my choice to work with him!
