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Bit Reactor Reportedly Furloughed or Laid Off Up to 80% of Its Workforce Before Star Wars Zero Company Launched

Bit Reactor confirmed furloughs as employee accounts described layoffs and a skeleton post-launch team, while co-founder Alison Kelly's lawsuit alleges Greg Foertsch pushed her out and unjustly enriched himself.

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Correction, September 1, 2026: An earlier version of this article placed Bit Reactor’s staffing cuts after Star Wars Zero Company launched. Updated reporting from GameFile and the studio’s confirmation place the furloughs before the game’s August 27 release, while employee accounts add that some workers were laid off. We have corrected the timeline and expanded the staffing details.

Bit Reactor, the studio behind Star Wars Zero Company, reportedly furloughed or laid off as many as 80% of its staff before the game launched on August 27, 2026. A Bit Reactor representative confirmed the furloughs, but the studio did not disclose its employee count. Accounts from former and furloughed employees described cuts made in the weeks or months before release, with the available reporting portraying the studio as having run out of money.

Furloughed employees remain technically employed, but they do not receive wages while the furlough lasts. Bit Reactor described the decision as difficult, attributed it to uncertainty around the game’s launch performance, and said it was made before the studio knew how the release would perform. The furloughs were made by the studio, not publisher Electronic Arts or Disney. Bit Reactor hopes to bring those workers back at full pay, although employee accounts questioned whether everyone would return to the same role. The studio has not announced how many furloughed employees may return or when that decision will be made. Some accounts also alleged that the staffing changes were kept out of public view before launch.

Only a skeleton crew reportedly remained to handle post-launch bug fixes, and studio leadership was unsure what the post-launch roadmap would look like. Former Bit Reactor cinematic storytelling artist Zachariah Scott, who said he was fired in May 2026 after three years at the studio, criticized the situation. Scott said he had spoken with nearly a dozen Bit Reactor staff members over the weekend, and most told him they had been furloughed about three weeks earlier. He said affected workers were not confident that everyone would regain their jobs, even if some employees returned. Scott called it “a gross but all too common sight to see” when public praise for Star Wars Zero Company existed alongside uncertainty for the people who built it.

Star Wars Zero Company’s strong launch

The employment crisis arrived alongside a well-received release. Star Wars Zero Company is a single-player, turn-based tactics game built around recognizable Star Wars elements. It launched to near-unanimous critical praise and was the top-selling game on Steam at the time of the report. It also released on PS5 and Xbox consoles, so its launch was not limited to Valve’s storefront.

On Steam, the game holds a 77% positive rating from more than 10,000 reviews and has reached a peak of 77,889 concurrent players. Metacritic lists the game with a score of 85.

The game had already set a new Star Wars record on Steam with 69,046 concurrent players on launch day, as detailed in our report on its Steam debut. Its later peak climbed higher, giving the title a stronger player showing than its first-day figure suggested. Concurrent player counts do not measure total sales or revenue, so the strong Steam reception does not explain Bit Reactor’s financial position on its own.

The lawsuit between Bit Reactor co-founders

Alison Kelly, Bit Reactor’s co-founder and former COO, is suing co-founder Greg Foertsch. The lawsuit alleges that Foertsch pushed Kelly out of the studio and unjustly enriched himself.

Those claims remain allegations, and the available details do not establish the outcome of the case. The staffing cuts, uncertain post-launch support, and lawsuit leave Bit Reactor’s staff and leadership situation under close attention following the studio’s first major release.

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