Star Wars Zero Company Launches to Strong Reviews as Bit Reactor Furloughs Most Employees

Bit Reactor was expected to celebrate the launch of its debut game, Star Wars Zero Company, last week. Instead, many developers behind the well-reviewed tactical combat game are currently working without pay after being furloughed just weeks before release.

The Maryland-based studio, founded in 2021, released Star Wars Zero Company on Thursday, August 27. The game received strong reviews and was reportedly the top-selling title on Steam. It is available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

At Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, Bit Reactor co-founder Greg Foertsch was giving interviews about the studio’s plans for a possible next game. However, much of the team that developed Zero Company had already been furloughed ahead of launch.

A Bit Reactor representative confirmed to Game File that the studio furloughed many of its employees before the game’s release. The representative described the decision as difficult and said it was made before the company knew how the launch would perform. Bit Reactor also emphasized that the decision was made by the studio itself, rather than by publisher Electronic Arts or Star Wars license holder Disney.

The representative declined to specify how many employees were affected. However, a previously unreported lawsuit filed by studio co-founder Alison Kelly in 2024 stated in a filing dated August 12 of this year that Bit Reactor “has furloughed most of its employees and terminated contractors…”

One source told Game File that the furloughs affected 80% of the team. Another source said only a skeleton crew remained on Bit Reactor’s active payroll to address post-launch bugs in Star Wars Zero Company.

Bit Reactor furloughs employees before debut game launch

Bit Reactor appears to have run out of most of its funding shortly before launching its first game. Over the weekend, Zachariah Scott, a senior technical artist who worked at the studio from early 2023 until an acrimonious departure in May, wrote on LinkedIn that the company was “concealing the fact that the team was Furloughed weeks ago.”

Scott told Game File by phone that he spoke with nearly a dozen Bit Reactor employees over the weekend. “Everybody has essentially the same story, which is, ‘Yeah, I got furloughed three weeks ago.”

The Bit Reactor representative said the studio hoped to restore pay and bring furloughed employees back, suggesting that a successful launch could improve the company’s position.

Scott said the workers he contacted were less confident that all furloughed employees would return to their previous positions, even if Bit Reactor reinstated some members of the team.

Alison Kelly lawsuit adds to Bit Reactor’s turmoil

Bit Reactor’s launch period followed a turbulent legal dispute between co-founders Alison Kelly and Greg Foertsch. The lawsuit that first revealed the employee furloughs was originally scheduled for trial in June.

The case centers on whether Kelly, who served as Bit Reactor’s chief operating officer until 2024, was a co-owner of the studio or whether Foertsch owned it alone. Kelly sued in July 2024, alleging that Foertsch pushed her out of the company. She initially filed the case in federal court before refiling in Maryland’s Baltimore County, where she accused Foertsch of breach of contract and unjust enrichment.

Kelly claims more than $20 million in damages, based on an allegation that Bit Reactor was worth more than twice that amount. Foertsch’s side has argued that Kelly was never a co-owner and has made claims about her job performance, allegations Kelly has denied.

The trial was postponed until early 2027 as both sides continued deposing witnesses and filing additional claims and denials.

Filings reviewed by Game File offer further details about Bit Reactor’s origins, its early ambitions in the tactics genre and the team’s breakthrough in attracting Electronic Arts’ attention. That effort reportedly involved a pitch connected to one of EA’s non-Star Wars franchises, while the documents also describe early divisions among the studio’s co-founders.