I just started writing here, and honestly, the news about the situation at star wars zero company developer furloughs job security—is truly heartbreaking. A new game was released on August 27, and it’s actually really good. It has a score of 86 on Metacritic, making it the best “Star Wars” game in over 20 years. But here’s the sad part: Most of the people who actually developed the game weren’t getting paid at the time of release. That’s just wrong.
THE HIGHEST-RATED STAR WARS GAME IN 22 YEARS COULDN’T PAY ITS EMPLOYEES
Bit Reactor is the studio behind this game. Two weeks before the game went on sale, they sent most of their employees home. While they weren’t laid off, they also didn’t receive any pay. These employees find themselves in an uncertain situation: They have no money and don’t know when—or if—they’ll get their jobs back. The studio stated that it hoped the game would sell well so it could pay its employees again. But the game *is* selling well, and so far, nothing has changed.
Zachariah Scott, a former graphic designer at the studio, shared this news on LinkedIn. A court filing related to a lawsuit filed this year also mentioned that most employees were placed on leave and contractors were laid off. It’s a mess. A representative from the studio confirmed this when contacted by the Game File editorial team. He said it had been a really difficult decision to make before they knew how the game would sell. One source even stated that about 80 percent of the team was affected, leaving only a tiny group to fix bugs.
THE HURDLES OF THE LEAVE OF ABSENCE HAVE BEEN OVERCOME
The game is performing exceptionally well on Steam. It’s currently among the top sellers. By all accounts, the “hurdle” to success has been cleared. However, the studio hasn’t said a word to the public about whether the employees will be called back. There’s no new information. There’s just silence. This is frustrating because fans are buying the game with the intention of supporting the team—but the developers aren’t benefiting from it.
To make matters even stranger: The studio’s co-founder, Greg Foertsch, was recently at Gamescom. He talked about how well the game has been selling and said he wanted to work on more Star Wars projects. He and other executives posted on social media and celebrated the reviews. But none of them mentioned that the people who actually developed the game didn’t receive any pay. That’s a really bad feeling.
THIS PAY CUT EXACERBATES THE WORST TREND OF 2026
Layoffs and furloughs may be two different things, but both hurt. The people who developed this game bear all the risk but receive nothing in return. Even if the game sells a million copies, there’s no guarantee they’ll keep their jobs. The employees don’t even seem to believe they’ll get their old jobs back. It’s a difficult situation.
As Scott mentioned online, this has become far too common. Big games top the charts, but the developers have to go looking for new work. They don’t get a share of the profits. The system is truly broken.
55 BILLION U.S. DOLLARS HASN'T SOLVED THIS PAY ISSUE
Publisher EA also finds itself in a strange situation. The company has just completed a massive sale worth 55 billion US dollars to a group led by Saudi investors. That’s a lot of money. It isn’t necessarily directly related to the furloughs, but it looks terrible. Billions of dollars are changing hands, while the people doing the actual work are worrying about how they’ll pay their bills.
This isn’t the only time something like this has happened this year. Ubisoft has cut jobs. Refactor Games laid off 85 percent of its workforce after their game was a success. It’s been a bad year for game developers. The latest figures show that over 14,000 jobs were cut in the industry in 2026. This figure is far higher than what was expected at the beginning of the year.
SUCCESS AND JOB SECURITY NO LONGER GO HAND IN HAND
I’ve played the game myself for 36 hours, and it’s a ton of fun. But it’s hard to enjoy it when you know what’s going on behind the scenes. That casts a dark shadow over the whole thing. People bought the game to support the developers. The game brought in the money that the studio said it needed. And yet, nothing has changed.
This shows once again that great work in this industry is far from a guarantee of job security. You can land a hit, receive outstanding reviews, and still lose your job. It makes you wonder: What are developers supposed to do when even success isn’t enough to secure their jobs? Hopefully, things will take a turn for the better for these people soon.
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