Studio ZA/UM has announced layoffs impacting up to 32 employees across all departments, two months after the release of its latest title, Zero Parades: For Dead Spies. The studio stated that the game's commercial performance has not met expectations, preventing them from sustaining their current staff size.
"While Zero Parades: For Dead Spies was released to critical acclaim, its commercial performance has not enabled us to sustain a studio of our current size," ZA/UM communicated in a social media message. "We have served redundancy or at-risk notices impacting up to 32 of our colleagues across all departments at ZA/UM Studio. Their work has made a lasting difference and left its mark on Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, and the studio has a whole."
Reviews for Zero Parades were more mixed than those for its predecessor, the critically acclaimed Disco Elysium. While some critics lauded the game, others found its mechanics and narrative less cohesive. One review noted that individual aspects of the game were enjoyable, but they coalesced around a "fundamentally nonsensical approach to international espionage," suggesting a disconnect between the game's structure and its core gameplay.
The studio's history with layoffs and departures, particularly concerning key figures involved in Disco Elysium, has been a point of discussion online. The acrimonious splits prior to Zero Parades' launch have been suggested by some observers as a factor contributing to its perceived commercial struggles. The sentiment is that the core audience for ZA/UM's work may have been alienated by these events, impacting their willingness to support the new release.