Star Wars Zero Company developer Bit Reactor has laid off staff, with employees disclosing their departures on 6 November. At least one affected developer had spent three months on furlough, and the studio has not announced how many people have lost their jobs.
Environment artist Ryan Lopez confirmed in a public post that his layoff followed that extended period away from work. His account does not establish whether developers brought back in October were also affected.
“I was laid off from Bit Reactor, LLC this week after a three-month furlough, and while it stings, I’m really proud of what we built together,” Lopez wrote.
Lopez spent three and a half years on Zero Company, working on its environment material and shader pipeline and helping model and texture the main hub ship. UI engineer Tyler Eichten separately confirmed his layoff on 6 November. QA team member Ryan Mosher was also affected, according to Bespin Bulletin’s initial report.
The departures follow furloughs that began shortly before Zero Company’s August launch. On 7 October, CEO Greg Foertsch said Bit Reactor had begun returning more staff to work. In the statement reproduced by Bespin Bulletin, he described the recalls as “an important step forward in our continued support for Zero Company”. They did not amount to a return for everyone.
The game received a substantial update after those recalls. EA’s official patch 1.2 notes, published on 15 October, introduced campaign modifiers that let players change injury, permanent-death and other rules when starting a new campaign. The developers also said they planned to explore additional configurations in future updates. Those earlier plans do not settle what the latest staff cuts mean for further support.
Zero Company launched on 27 August for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. The Clone Wars-era tactics game was Bit Reactor’s first title, developed alongside Lucasfilm Games and Electronic Arts.