ZA/UM is once again slashing its workforce, serving redundancy notices to up to 32 employees across all departments just two months after releasing spiritual successor Zero Parades: For Dead Spies. The studio, which last counted around 100 staff when workers formed the UK's first recognized game developers' union in October 2025, pins the cuts directly on the game's commercial performance falling short of what was needed to sustain operations at current scale, despite critical praise including a five-star Eurogamer review.

This marks the second major round of layoffs in recent years for the troubled outfit, following an earlier 2024 wave tied to project cancellations and reports of crunch and conflict. ZA/UM's own statement acknowledges the impacted staff's contributions while insisting artistic standards remain unchanged, but the timing—mere weeks after launch—has drawn sharp community backlash on social platforms and Reddit threads, where fans decry the pattern of workers bearing the cost amid the studio's long-running ownership disputes and brand damage from the original Disco Elysium saga.

The irony writes itself: a studio built on a game steeped in anti-capitalist critique now repeatedly hollowing itself out through the very market logic it once satirized. With former creatives like Robert Kurvitz long gone and multiple spin-off studios chasing the same audience, ZA/UM's latest move further erodes whatever goodwill remained. The brand stays poisoned, and the workforce pays the price.