Star Wars Zero Company developer Bit Reactor saw mass furlough before launch
Instead of celebrating the release of their debut game, many devs from Bit Reactor are currently going without pay.
The most exciting time for any game developer is when they finally get that satisfying pay off of getting the game they've poured their blood, sweat, and tears into for years in the hands of players. Unfortunately for the team at Bit Reactor, the release of their debut game Star Wars Zero Company last week was preceded by most of the team being furloughed.
This news, reported by Stephen Totilo, comes just days after the co-founder of Bit Reactor, Greg Foertsch, was at Gamescom going over potential ideas for the studio's next game in interviews. The report was then confirmed by a Bit Reactor representative to Game File and also included the detail that the furlough was a decision made by Bit Reactor alone — Publisher Electronic Arts had nothing to do with it. The Bit Reactor spokesperson also stated, "the studio hoped to bring furloughed workers back with restored pay, suggesting that a successful launch of the game could be impactful."
Bit Reactor did not share hard details on the extent of the furloughs, but one of Totilo's sources, senior technical artist Zachariah Scott at Bit Reactor, said that roughly 80% of the studio staff have been impacted, himself included. Scott, and other employees, have no guarantee that they will return to work in the same positions, if they're brought back at all.
Star Wars Zero Company released on August 27, and has earned acclaim from critics. At the time of writing, the game is third on the Steam best sellers list. The fact that the many talented developers behind it are having to worry about their future at Bir Reactor, let alone the games industry at large, is nothing short of frustrating. Hopefully Bit Reactor does the right thing and brings their developers back on.
