Star Wars Zero Company Studio Bit Reactor Furloughed Most of Its Team

Star Wars Zero Company launched on 27 August to the strongest critical reception of any Star Wars game in 22 years. The developers who built it, however, largely went without pay before that moment arrived.

Game File reported on 31 August that Bit Reactor, the Maryland-based studio behind the game, had furloughed most of its staff in the weeks leading up to release.

A Bit Reactor representative confirmed the furloughs to Game File, describing it as a difficult decision made before the studio knew how the game would be received, and stressed the call was Bit Reactor's own rather than a directive from publisher Electronic Arts or licence holder Disney.

Scale of the Furloughs

The representative declined to say how many workers were affected, but Game File cited two separate sources placing the figure at around 80 per cent of the team.

Only a skeleton crew remained active, tasked with handling post-launch bugs and support for the PS5, Xbox Series and PC release.

Senior technical artist Zachariah Scott, who left Bit Reactor in May 2026 after working there since early 2023, went public on LinkedIn over the launch weekend.

Scott described it as deeply uncomfortable that EA, Disney and Bit Reactor senior staff were posting celebratory praise of the game's success while, as he characterised it, concealing the fact that most of the team had already been sent home without pay.

Scott separately told Game File he spoke to nearly a dozen affected workers, all of whom reported having been furloughed roughly three weeks before launch.

Bit Reactor's representative told Game File the studio hoped a strong commercial performance would allow it to bring furloughed staff back. Scott said those workers were less confident all of them would return even if the game sold well.

Zero Company debuted at the top of Steam's sales charts.

A Lawsuit Between Co-Founders

The furloughs have also surfaced inside an ongoing legal dispute.

Alison Kelly, a co-founder and former chief operating officer at Bit Reactor, filed a lawsuit in 2024 alleging that studio CEO and creative director Greg Foertsch forced her out of the company and denied her an equal ownership stake.

A court filing from 12 August this year, as reported by Game File and cited by Kotaku, noted that Bit Reactor had furloughed most of its employees and terminated contractors.

Foertsch has denied Kelly's allegations. His legal team has argued her responsibilities were reduced due to performance concerns, and has disputed her claims regarding access to company records and equity entitlements. The lawsuit is ongoing.

What Comes Next for the Studio

Foertsch was at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany during launch week, giving interviews about the studio's future and expressing that Bit Reactor would love to make more Star Wars games following the warm reception from both fans and critics.

Zero Company currently holds the highest Metacritic score at launch of any Star Wars title since Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords in 2004.

How many copies the game needs to sell to restore pay for furloughed staff has not been disclosed. The studio has not indicated a timeline for decisions about its workforce.

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