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# Former Disco Elysium devs invite players to become shareholders in their new studio
- URL: https://www.verticalslice.news/former-disco-elysium-devs-invite-players-to-become-shareholders-in-their-new-studio/
- Published: 2026-10-14T15:00:26.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-14T15:03:26.000Z
- Description: Summer Eternal has established a 'Player Non-Profit' that will give customers a say in how the studio operates.
- Author: Chris Kerr
- Tags: News, Business

Summer Eternal, a studio co-founded by a group of former *Disco Elysium* developers, is giving players and supporters the chance to become co-owners. 

The Croatian outfit initially broke the news two years, when it confirmed it would be "giving away" a five percent stake in the studio to players. The first opportunity to become a shareholder was offered to those who [pre-ordered copy of the Summer Eternal Anthology](https://summereternal.com/blog/launching-the-players-non-profit?ref=verticalslice.news) (pitched as part development diary, part cultural journal) this September.

Summer Eternal described the Players Non-Profit as a "brand new community organisation which will collaborate directly with our creatives and developers to manage the studio." [Eurogamer resurfaced the news today](https://www.eurogamer.net/summer-eternal-studio-structure-player-non-profit?ref=verticalslice.news), but as we mentioned, this has been the plan for some time. 

[In an October 2024 developer diary](https://summereternal.com/blog/studio-architecture?ref=verticalslice.news), studio director Aleksandar Gavrilovic explained the team wanted to figure out how to avoid relying on capital that "prioritises profit over sustainability and artistic expression." 

By way of a partial solution—Gavrilovic stressed the studio will still be bound under the "constraints" of capitalism to some extent—Summer Eternal adopted a multifaceted shareholder structure comprised of four distant entities, each with their own competing self-interests (creative vision, workers' rights, corporate profit, and gamers' interests). 

As part of that vision, he explained 5 percent of the company's shares would be set aside for those who own Summer Eternal's products. "This non-profit will be the 'voice of the gamers' in an experimental attempt to formalise the community decision-making in game development," he added. "The non-profit can use the game revenue to organise events, support union work, or whatever their assembly (comprised of all members) decides on." 

Fast-track to September 2026, and Summer Eternal made good on that promise and further outlined its hopes for the collective under the FairShares principle—the idea that a company's structure should reflect its various stakeholders. 

"The goal of the Players Non-Profit is to provide transparency and actionable means of interception to those who've put their trust in us," wrote the studio. "\[...\] The idea behind the model is that you create a company that has all the stakeholders (including investors, workers, and the broader community) as actual shareholders. The famous FairShares example is the detergent factory setting up in a rural area, and the community having a seat at the table telling them 'hey, maybe don't dump your toxic waste up-stream of our river, please.'" 

The Player Non-Profit will have the power to summon a General Assembly of Summer Eternal representatives to discuss important issues and vote in polls relating to company and project strategy. They will also be invited to an exclusive Discord channel with Summer Eternal's core team and contributors, and be privy to early development updates.

In the longer-term, Player-Non-Profit members will receive early bird previews of *Red Rooster*—the studio's debut project—and discounts on future purchases. As mentioned earlier, they must also democratically decide how to spend 5 percent of profits generated by *Red Rooster* sales. 

Summer Eternal has stressed the creative team working on *Red Rooster* will always retain control over the means of their creation. That creative co-op currently holds "50%+1" of shares to be managed equally among its members. "Creatives hold up half the sky—creatives hold half the power," explained the company. 

Investors and lenders hold a 20 percent stake in the studio through a Limited Liability Company. Meanwhile, workers who are not part of the creative co-op of full-time staffers will form a Workers Self-Management co-op that accepts collaborators in all roles.