Bit Reactor, the studio behind Star Wars Zero Company, has laid off an unspecified number of employees. This follows a period where the company had brought some furloughed developers back to work. The news of the layoffs was shared by several developers on LinkedIn on Friday, November 6.
Among those affected is senior environment artist Ryan Lopez, who worked on Zero Company from pre-production through its launch and was with the studio for three and a half years. UI engineer Tyler Eichten and QA team member Ryan Mosher also confirmed their departures. Lopez expressed pride in the team's work, stating, "While it stings, I'm really proud of what we built together. It was a privilege to ship a game with you."
Prior to the game's launch on August 27, Bit Reactor had furloughed a significant portion of its staff, reportedly around 80 percent, just weeks before release. This decision was attributed to financial constraints. Despite these challenges, Star Wars Zero Company has seen commercial success, with an estimated sales figure of over one million copies within its first month.
In early October, CEO Greg Foertsch announced that the studio had begun rehiring some of its team. He described the decision to furlough staff so close to launch as "incredibly difficult" but necessary to facilitate bringing employees back. While it is understood that over half the studio returned to work, it remains unclear if those rehired are among the employees recently laid off, or if all returning staff were back on full pay.