Staff who worked on Star Wars Zero Company announced on November 6, 2026, that they had been laid off by Bit Reactor, about a month after the company began bringing some furloughed employees back to work. The total number of people affected has not been disclosed.
The departures include senior environment artist Ryan Lopez, UI engineer Tyler Eichten, senior QA analyst Ryan Mosher, and producer Michael Blackard. Each shared news of their layoff on LinkedIn.
Employees describe the departures
Lopez spent three and a half years working on Zero Company, from pre-production through launch. He said his layoff followed a three-month furlough.
“While it stings, I'm really proud of what we built together,” Lopez wrote. “It was a privilege to ship a game with you.”
Eichten worked on much of the on-screen interface for tactical missions in the turn-based strategy game. His departure post expressed pride in the UI/UX team's work and the wider team's accomplishments, alongside a hope that he and his colleagues would find new roles.
Zero Company's tactical mission UI
The partial return began in October
Bit Reactor furloughed most of its staff in the weeks before the game's August 27 launch. On October 7, CEO Greg Foertsch said the company had “started the process of returning more of our team back to work.”
Foertsch described the furlough as a response to “unexpected business developments outside of our control.” He called asking employees to step away so close to launch an incredibly difficult decision, but said it was necessary to bring as many people back as possible.
Star Wars Zero Company was estimated to have sold more than one million copies within a month of release. Bit Reactor did not disclose how many employees were returning when it announced the partial recall. It remains unclear whether anyone who resumed work was among those subsequently laid off.
