This article covers the developing story. We'll add more information as it becomes available, so keep checking back.
Disco Elysium developer ZA/UM has announced that 32 employees have been laid off or put at risk due to disappointing sales of Zero Parades: For Dead Spies.
Considering that Disco Elysium is widely considered a masterpiece, it would be easy to assume that ZA/UM's next game would be an instant hit, but that's not really the case. ZA/UM has been through a frankly ridiculous amount of corporate drama over the past few years. Several of the main developers behind Disco were ousted and went on to create their own tribute games.
There are still developers working on Disco at ZA/UM, but the whole transition basically made Zero Parades: For Dead Spies a poisoned chalice, and many fans refused to give it their time. This clearly had an impact, as ZA/UM confirmed that Zero Parades' apparent underperformance led to layoffs from the studio.
ZA/UM Confirms Layoffs With Zero Parade: Dead Spies Underperforms
“Their work brought about lasting change and left its mark.”
Via Twitter, the official ZA/UM account released a statement confirming that the studio had issued layoff or at-risk notices to 32 employees. This is due to the seemingly poor commercial performance of Zero Parades: For Dead Spies resulting in ZA/UM being unable to “maintain a studio of its current size”.
ZA/UM notes that despite Zero Parades beginning to receive “critical acclaim”, sales figures were low. The studio notes that the 32 employees affected by the layoffs (which were carried out while consulting and cooperating with the ZA/UM Workers' Alliance) have brought about “lasting change” and that their work has “left a mark” on Zero Parades and the studio as a whole.
ZA/UM hasn't shared sales figures for Zero Parades, but SteamDB confirms that peak player count was just over 3,000. It's only based on one console, but with all the drama and boycotts going on at the studio in recent years, it suggests it hasn't reached as many players as Disco Elysium.
As for ZA/UM's future, the statement says that although they are changing the “form” of the studio, they are not changing its “purpose.” We don't yet know what ZA/UM will do next, but we hope that the affected developers find jobs soon and that the remaining developers don't continue to suffer from a mistake bigger than theirs.
Zero Parade: For a Dead Spy
- released
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May 21, 2026
- ESRB
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Pending evaluation
- developer
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JA/UM
- publisher
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JA/UM
- number of players
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single player
- Steam Deck Compatibility
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unknown
