Star Wars: Zero Company Developer Bit Reactor Hit by Layoffs After Staff Furloughs

Star Wars: Zero Company developer Bit Reactor has reportedly laid off an unspecified number of employees, following the studio’s earlier furloughs and the return of some staff to paid work.

Bespin Bulletin first reported the new layoffs after several developers said on LinkedIn that they had lost their jobs. The affected roles reported so far span art, user-interface engineering, quality assurance, and production, but neither the studio nor the reporting has established a total number of cuts.

The distinction between these layoffs and the earlier furlough recall is important. Bit Reactor furloughed a large portion of its team before Zero Company launched, then said in October that it had begun bringing more employees back. Our previous coverage of that return noted that some staff still remained furloughed.

Senior environment artist Ryan Lopez, one of the workers reported as affected by the new cuts, later clarified that he had remained in the furloughed group rather than returning as part of the full-time cohort. That means the current reports should not be read as confirmation that employees recalled in October were subsequently laid off.

Bit Reactor has not publicly disclosed the overall size of the layoff round. Until the studio provides further details, the confirmed picture is limited to individual employee accounts and the reporting assembled from them.

What support would you like to see for the developers affected by Bit Reactor’s latest cuts?