Star Wars Zero Company studio hits staff with layoffs a month after rehiring some
Bit Reactor, the developer behind the tactics game Star Wars Zero Company, has laid off employees. The news, first noted by the fan site Bespin Bulletin, comes just weeks after the studio started bringing back developers it had previously placed on furlough.
Multiple staff members confirmed the cuts on LinkedIn, per reports from Eurogamer and PC Gamer. Among them were senior environment artist Ryan Lopez, UI engineer Tyler Eichten, and senior QA analyst Ryan Mosher. Lopez, who worked on the game for over three years, wrote that being let go "stings," but that he was "really proud of what we built together."
The studio had furloughed a large portion of its team earlier this year, reportedly as many as eight out of ten staffers, just ahead of the game’s August launch. CEO Greg Foertsch later stated in October that the studio had begun bringing people back, calling the earlier furloughs a difficult but necessary decision.
Despite Zero Company selling over a million copies in its first month, the commercial success wasn't enough to prevent these new layoffs. It remains unclear exactly how many people were affected or if any recently rehired staff were among those let go.
