„I Think This Industry is Finished.” Disco Elysium Devs Call for Game Developers to Stand Up Against Systemic Greed
Former ZA/UM studio employees hope to create something „familiar but new,” but also for changes in the game industry, if only as a result of the crisis.
Mass layoffs that have affected many studios and publishers in the last year may not inspire optimism about the condition of the industry. Especially in the case of people directly affected by the "restructuring" - such as former creators of Disco Elysium, who believe that the gaming market is "finished" and needs a "crisis" to improve the situation of workers.
End of the industry, but not video games
These words were said by former Za/UM studio employees, including Dora Klindzic – former Disco Elysium scriptwriter and current member of the Summer Eternal team – in an interview with Mark Warren for VG247.
The developer is by no means alone in her critical approach to the current state of the industry. Just take a look at the manifesto posted on the official website of her new devteam. Summer Eternal Studio openly talks about the "apocalyptic" state of the video game market and criticizes the "corrupt management" and corporations focused on "vulgar profits" and "burning human fuel in their unrestrained greed for money".
Klindzic has no illusions: Summer Eternal alone will not save the industry. In her opinion , "the gaming industry is over," but – "fortunately for everyone" – she believes that video games will not share its fate.
Crisis, Valve and "digital fiefs"
The same was stated by Aleksander Gawrylowicz (one of the studio's organizers), who is even waiting for the "second crisis" (in reference to the disaster that almost buried the future of the market in 1983), in the hope that it would draw attention to the biggest problem of the industry: the "draining" of profits from PC games by "digital fiefdoms", primarily Steam.
"I am still eagerly awaiting the second crisis, which would draw attention to the biggest structural problem in game development - the fact that one third of all PC revenue from all developers (from independent to AAA) goes to digital landlords [i.e. digital distribution platforms - ed, note], of which Valve is the most scandalous example. I can imagine a near future with a larger workforce, but not replacing Valve with a community-owned alternative. This "winter castle" will not fall so easily, but we should at least start openly discussing alternatives.
Gawrylowicz also pointed to the protests of Ubisoft employees (or even the situation of the French publisher in general) as the first step towards giving "more power" to ordinary employees of game studios and publishers. This, as indicated, has a chance of success precisely because of the mass layoffs. In recent, relatively "calm" years, it has been difficult to encourage people to support the creation of trade unions, and only times of "crisis" provide the impetus to introduce changes and fight "systemic greed"
Of course, Summer Eternal also has another task: to create a good video game as the studio's debut. Argo Tuulik (one of the lead writers of Disco Elysium) hopes to design something "familiar yet new", without changing anything from his previous work just for the sake of it, but also without aiming to "beat or even equal" ZA/UM's RPGs.
We approach this process [of game development - ed. note] without any intention of "overtaking" or even "matching" [Disco] Elysium or competing with any other company on Earth or in orbit, nor do we lay claim to any commercial success goals. We leave this business to scalpers. We will work as artists do, which means we will look at the work with both eyes, not one on the audience and the other on the competition.
Let us remind you that Summer Eternal is just one of three team founded by former creators of Disco Elysium. We previously learned about the founding of Longdue and the establishment of Dark Math Games.
