Star Wars Zero Company Developers Were Furloughed Before The Game Even Released

A new report has revealed that most of the Star Wars Zero Company development team at Bit Reactor was furloughed before the game launched on August 28. While the new XCOM-like Star Wars strategy game garnered positive reviews, Bit Reactor confirmed to Game File that the studio had furloughed workers in August, with a separate source suggesting that around 80% of the Zero Company's development team was impacted by this. Sources also revealed the game was developed on a very tight $50 million budget, which appeared to run out just before release and meant developers couldn't even do things like add more lightsaber animations into the game. Furloughs differ from layoffs. That means the impacted Zero Company developers are unpaid right now, with the hopes of bringing them back on and paying them again in the future, rather than being completely let go by Bit Reactor. The path forward for the studio isn't a simple one, though, as the Game File report also uncovered that co-founders Greg Foertsch and Alison Kelly are currently embroiled in a lawsuit. Documents for that lawsuit reveal that Zero Company started life as an Apex Legends game pitch, but Respawn ultimately asked them to make …