Star Wars: Zero Company Developer Furloughed “Most” Of Their Team Ahead Of Game’s Launch

Star Wars: Zero Company was released to rave reviews last week, with many journalists and fans calling it one of the best uses of the Star Wars IP in games in a long time. But the news of Zero Company’s success was less exciting for the staff at Bit Reactor, the game’s developer.

According to Game File, Bit Reactor furloughed “much” of their team ahead of Zero Company’s release, leaving the team weeks without pay. A rep from Bit Reactor explained to Game File that the choice to furlough their staff was “a difficult decision and one that had been made before it was clear how launch would go,” and that the decision to furlough was “Bit Reactor’s alone.”

It remains to be seen if the full Bit Reactor team will return to work following the release of Star Wars: Zero Company. One source stated that around 80% of the team was impacted by the furloughs, while another told Game File that only a small team remains to keep the developer operational. The same Bit Reactor representative who reported the furlough to Game File also stated that they hoped they could bring furloughed workers back and restore their pay.

A former Bit Reactor employee, Zachariah Scott, posted on LinkedIn addressing the layoffs, saying that the company was using the great reviews for Zero Company to paper over the fact that the company had furloughed much of its staff weeks prior to launch. He continued: “It is a gross but all to common sight to see, Another corporate game hitting the top of steam while the team is left looking for work and cut off from any possible profit sharing.”

Bit Reactor’s future remains up in the air. As reported by VGC, the studio is interested in working on more Star Wars titles. But who will lead the studio in these times is less certain, as Game File also reported a key lawsuit between two Bit Reactor executives over co-ownership of the company.

While its sales numbers are unclear across other platforms, Star Wars: Zero Company currently sits at #3 on Steam’s top selling games, and has an 85 Meta score on Metacritic.