// PC GAMER — GAMING
After furloughing its developers and then hiring some of them back, Star Wars Zero Company developer has laid off an unspecified number of staff
"While it stings, I'm really proud of what we built together."
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Star Wars Zero Company developer Bit Reactor has laid of an unspecified number of developers, after furloughing its entire team and then hiring some of that staff back.
As reported by the Star Wars website Bespin Bulletin, several designers of the acclaimed tactics game have taken to LinkedIn to announce that they have been let go by the studio. Among those affected are senior environment artist Ryan Lopez, who worked on the game for three and a half years and has been on furlough for the past three and a half months.
"While it stings, I'm really proud of what we built together," Lopez wrote in a LinkedIn post.
Other designers who lost their jobs include UI Engineer Tyler Eichten and senior quality assurance analyst Ryan Mosher, who spent two years at Firaxis and a further two years at 1047 Games before joining Bit Reactor in October 2024.
It's been a tumultuous few months for Bit Reactor. In September, it was reported that the studio had furloughed up to 80% of its staff in the weeks leading up to Zero Company's launch, with the studio having reportedly "run out of most of its money" ahead of the game's launch. At the time, former senior technical artist Zachariah Scott said the project was built with "shocking austerity". Scott also accused Bit Reactor of "concealing the fact that the team was furloughed weeks ago" after the company made the announcement.
Within a month, Zero Company had sold one million copies and Bit Reactor subsequently announced it had hired back some of its staff. In a statement posted on Bluesky, CEO Greg Foertsch stated that the furlough had been a response to "unexpected business developments outside of our control" and "necessary to help us eventually bring as many people back as we can".
Clearly, though, Zero Company's commercial performance hasn't been enough to bring back everybody. Which is a shame, considering that Zero Company is by all accounts a brilliant Star Wars adventure. Resident word Jedi Ted Litchfield called it " one of the best games of 2026 and a new all-timer Star Wars videogame" in his Star Wars Zero Company Review.
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