An influx of money has come to lubricate those development gears.
Image credit: Dark Math
Dark Math Games - a splinter studio with ex-ZA/UM devs currently working on its own detective RPG XXX Nightshift - just secured new funding. This cash injection comes courtesy of MM Grupp, an Estonian investment company which had previously helped fund Disco Elysium itself.
According to Gamesindustry.biz which recieved exclusive info on the matter, this funding is in the seven figure range, though no specific figure has been publically announced yet by the studio itself, MM Grupp, or press outlets. However, a statement following the investment has been released by Dark Math co-founder Kaur Kender.
"We're thrilled to include an experienced investor that understands and appreciates art as well as the video game industry specifically [...] MM Grupp's backing will bring stability and long-term vision. We have done something great together in the past and are positive that we'll do it again."
The web of breakout developers following the ZA/UM fallout is vast, with multiple studios all working on separate interesting projects - Londgue, Summer Eternal, and Dark Math. To a portion of Disco Elysium fans, this is manifesting in a battle between spiritual successors of the original Disco Elysium team. The reality is that these seperate groups comprised of former ZA/UM staffers well as new talent - while reportedly having formed links with each other in occasionally bizare ways over the past year or so - are all working on their own artistic products, all of them intriguing to old ZA/UM fans and fresh eyes alike.
Dark Math was founded by a team of 20 and described themselves as a "breakaway group from the original development team" back in October. One notable founding member include Kaur Kender, who was a executive producer on Disco Elysium and an early investor in ZA/UM.
Kender is himself an interesting figure in the post Disco Elysium shenanigans. He entered a legal dispute with ZA/UM over the Disco Elysium IP in 2023 and was court ordered to pay legal fees to ZA/UM. With that behind him, the team at Dark Math appears to be heads-down working on XXX Nightshift with a nice bed of cash to pull from.
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