Bit Reactor has begun returning some furloughed developers to work and putting them back on payroll before the launch of Star Wars: Zero Company. The studio had furloughed most of its team while developing the upcoming Star Wars game.
The returning employees are receiving pay again, as first reported by GamesIndustry.biz. Bit Reactor has also said it intends to bring back as many of the affected workers as it can.
The return begins after broad pre-release furloughs
The staffing move links directly to Star Wars: Zero Company, the project under development at the studio. Furloughs generally leave employees without active work assignments and pay, making the restoration of both a significant change for the people involved.
For the team, the decision signals that at least part of the workforce can resume contributing before the title reaches players. That matters because the earlier cuts affected most of the studio’s developers, placing the project’s pre-launch period alongside a broad interruption to the staff building it.
The move also has immediate consequences beyond production schedules. Returning to paid work provides income to employees who had been placed on furlough, while Bit Reactor regains access to their experience on a game that remains in development.
Key details about the scale of the return remain unclear
Bit Reactor has not specified how many people it furloughed, how many have now returned, or when Star Wars: Zero Company will launch. It also remains unclear whether every affected employee will ultimately receive an offer to return, despite the studio’s stated goal of bringing back as many workers as possible.
This article was produced with AI assistance from multi-source reporting and is published under our editorial standards.
