Founded in 2016, developer ZA/UM has cemented itself as one of the most exciting young studios in the video game industry with the release of the 2019 hit RPG Disco Elysium. It's now been nearly three years since Disco Elysium's launch and while ZA/UM has spent some of that time expanding and iterating for Disco Elysium's Final Cut, fans know it's just a matter of time before the studio's next game is announced. With that in mind, some recent ZA/UM job listings have been raising eyebrows.
Three job listings have been recently added to ZA/UM's board of open positions, two with an artistic focus and a third that's quite curious. The listings are for an Environment Concept Artist, a Lead Environment Artist (Unreal Engine 5), and a Sales and Monetization Specialist. Each of these listings reveal what could be details about ZA/UM's next game, and may even hint that it won't be related to Disco Elysium.
The first job listing, the Environment Concept Artist, is particularly interesting. Listed as part of the job description is an ability to create a "new world." Further, the artist has to "have a love for sci-fi and space." To hammer in this idea of imagination, and getting a little figurative, the job listing from the Disco Elysium developer then asks that applicants "understand that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in philosophy." More specific requirements include experience with the "Creation of non-earth environments" and an understanding of "architecture or city planning."
The second job listing, the Lead Environment Artist, is more technically minded. However, it too asks for an interest in architecture and a love of sci-fi and video games. There is one very curious addition here, though. It lists as a "Bonus" skill experience with the creation of "Parametric and procedural content." In other words, content created through algorithmic processes rather than directly designed.
If the first two job listings weren't interesting enough, the third should throw every Disco Elysium fan for a loop. The Sales and Monetization Specialist is exactly for the kind of job its name implies. One of the first listed responsibilities is to "Maximise and diversify revenue streams for full game, add-on, and live-services content." This project may be a live-service game.
The three jobs create a foggy idea of what ZA/UM could be working on. A sci-fi game with incredibly imaginative elements and procedurally generated environments, potentially built around live-service elements. ZA/UM has been long rumored to be working on Disco Elysium 2, but this sounds like something entirely different. Of course, ZA/UM could be working on multiple projects or simply experimenting with different game structures and creative ideas. Fans will have to wait to find out exactly what the Disco Elysium developer might do next.
Disco Elysium is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Eurogamer