Bit Reactor CEO Announces Return of Some Furloughed Staff to Continue Support for Star Wars Zero Company

Bit Reactor, the studio behind Star Wars Zero Company, has started bringing back some employees after furloughing around 80% of its workforce just before the game's launch.

CEO Greg Foertsch shared the update in a public post on October 7, explaining that the furloughs were a necessary step to "help us eventually bring as many people back as possible." He called the return of these staff members an "important step forward" in the studio's "continued support for Zero Company" and said the team is eager to share more news about the game "soon."

"Having to ask team members to step away after we navigated unexpected business developments outside of our control and so close to launch was an incredibly difficult decision," Foertsch wrote. "...This team means a tremendous amount to me, and I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished together. Thank you to our fans for the incredible response to the game and for supporting us along this journey."

Sources familiar with the situation told GameFile that Bit Reactor's current paid staff now make up "more than half of what it had been ahead of the furloughs," meaning a significant number of furloughed employees are still not receiving pay.

Star Wars Zero Company launched in August 2026 to critical acclaim, earning a nine out of 10 from IGN, which praised it as an "excellent tactical game that does a fantastic job of slathering on the same cinematic look and feel we saw in Respawn's Star Wars Jedi games, incorporating strong characters and a storyline that's refreshingly centered on non-Force users and a non-traditional villain."

Despite its success, many at Bit Reactor were placed on unpaid leave just before Zero Company's release, with reports indicating about 80% of employees were affected. This has become a recurring trend in the game development industry, to the point where Gears of War: E-Day developers were overcome with worry that they would get laid off after "crunching hard" to get the game out on time.

This is the latest development for Zero Company after GameFile uncovered legal documents revealing that the game was initially pitched as a title within the Titanfall universe, with specific connections to Apex Legends. While that pitch ultimately didn't go through, it's certainly intriguing enough to make us wonder what such a game would have looked like, had it actually been made.