Disco Elysium's potential 'spiritual successors' reportedly come with even more behind-the-scenes drama, including a bizarre spat about photos of someone's ex-wife

It feels like almost ever since Disco Elysium arrived in our lives, it's been linked to behind-the-scenes messiness which, while it's taken various forms and involved different parties, usually follows some similar themes. It's generally quite complex - as they said/this other person said video game drama often is - sometimes litigious, and occasionally really weird, if still clearly worth taking seriously.

Anyway, remember those three studios that all announced they were working on new games that kinda felt a bit Disco Elysiumy last month - Longdue, XXX Nightshift developer Dark Math Games and Summer Eternal, the latter of which we recently interviewed folks from? Well, a new report delves into some pretty complicated drama between all three of them.

The report from IGN makes for a rollercoaster of a read, delving into the links between all three, with Longdue and Dark Math allegedly both having tech entrepreneur Riaz Moola involved in some capacity on the financial side. IGN also reports that Tuulik and fellow Summer Eternal co-founder Dora Klindžić both worked for Dark Math Games and CoGrammar - Longdue's parent company - at different points this year.

The pair allegedly departed Dark Math - which is helmed by former Disco Elysium executive producer Kaur Kender, who had a legal dispute with ZA/UM over the IP which was resolved last year - in July 2024, after the company chose not to renew Tuulik's contract, citing "creative differences".

This is where things get weird. IGN reports that while Tuulik and Klindžić were serving as game director and narrative director on XXX Nightshift, Dark Math's game, an incident took place which saw Tuulik accuse Kender of showing him and other members of the team naked photos of Kender's ex-wife. Kender told IGN that the photos, which were allegdly supposed to act as real-life inspirations for characters in XXX Nightshift, denied that the woman was nude in the photos, asserting that she was wearing a bikini in some and fully clothed in others.

In a statement Dark Math gave to IGN, the studio chiefly expressed that it wishes to move on from any past incidents. In a Twitter thread following the report's publication, Tuulik has suggested that he shares this sentiment when it comes specifically to matters involving Dark Math.

Following this, it seems there was a whole other thing between Tuulik, Klindžić, and CoGrammar. IGN reports that Tuulik was serving as a consultant on Longdue's game, but the developer has denied this was the case in that aforementioned Twitter thread. Either way, the pair ended up leaving, with Tuulik resigning, and what's followed is Longdue successfully obtaining an injuction in England and Wales which stops Tuulik and Klindžić from working on Summer Eternal's game for a six month period, on the basis of how things went down contract-wise in the split - something both sides naturally have their own version of events regarding.

Then, there's the final bit of the puzzle. Disco Elysium studio ZA/UM, which Tuulik told IGN he resigned from, rather than being laid off as had previously been reported, has issued the developer with a legal complaint, alleging breach of contract, breach of confidentiality, and copyright infringement. The report cites sources as saying a playbable build of Disco Elysium spin-off X7, which Tuulik allegedly showed to staff at Dark Math and Longdue via a USB stick, is the sticking point. Tuulik has denied he did this.

So, what does all of this mean for Disco Elysium fans? Well, that remains to be seen, aside from possibly providing more ammo to the notion that the real Disco Elysium spiritual successor is the bunch of arguing, allegations, and strange turns of events that we've seen involving Disco or Disco-like things over the past few years.