Summary
- Summer Eternal, one of the many studios formed after the ZA/UM fallout, has resumed work on its own game.
- This comes after Disco Elysium writer Argo Tuulik was barred from working until this month, following a legal dispute with another studio, Longdue.
- Longdue claims to be making a successor to Disco Elysium, but Tuulik has been critical of the studio.
Summer Eternal is one of three studios that revealed themselves to the world on the same day last October, all containing at least some former ZA/UM talent. While everything seemed somewhat harmonious at first (or as harmonious as it can be when ZA/UM and Disco Elysium fallout are involved), it quickly became apparent that this isn’t the case, as Summer Eternal – founded by Disco Elysium writer Argo Tuulik – ran into trouble.
One of the studios, Longdue, claimed that Tuulik worked for both them and another studio, Dark Math, before he formed Summer Eternal. Longdue claimed that Tuulik broke “agreements” with the company in doing this, prompting legal action which sided in favour of Longdue. As a result, Tuulik was prevented from working at Summer Eternal – until today.
For this part, Tuulik denies working with Longdue.
Whatever arrangement Tuulik had with Longdue was set to come to an end in April 2025, meaning he can start working on Summer Eternal’s debut game once again as of today. True enough, the studio has started tweeting again and has a simple message: “We’re back”. It also has another message about the whole situation in the image, but you can see that for yourself.
Summer Eternal Is Back
It seems like the ZA/UM successor studio can finally get back to work
This likely isn’t an April Fool’s Day joke, as we already knew that Tuulik could resume work on Summer Eternal’s project this month. This just seems to confirm that everything is back on.
Related
Longdue On Creating Hopetown And Its Claim As A Disco Elysium Successor
As the Kickstarter for Hopetown goes live, I speak with Piotr Sobolewski and Grant Roberts from Longdue, one of the ‘Disco Elysium successor’ studios.
It remains to be seen what Summer Eternal is working on. Right now, the website contains a manifesto, detailing the studio’s mission, and an analysis of the dire state of the gaming industry. As for its first game, this is described as an RPG and “a cultural megaproject”, with the team saying it is “committed to pursue the highest caliber of literary quality”.
Over at Longdue, it has since revealed its own debut game, Hopetown. The Kickstarter has proven to be successful, but some have been critical of what we’ve seen of the game so far.
Disco Elysium
4.5/5
- Released
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October 15, 2019
- ESRB
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M For Mature 17+ due to Blood, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs, Violence
- Developer(s)
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ZA/UM
- Publisher(s)
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ZA/UM
- Engine
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Unity