Star Wars Zero Company Dev Talks Strategic Design Choices Behind New Adventure

Bit Reactor chief executive and creative director Greg Foertsch has discussed the thinking behind Star Wars Zero Company, the studio’s turn-based tactics game set during the Clone Wars. The interview arrived just after the game’s August 27, 2026 launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, and after a strong critical reception that few Star Wars games have matched in two decades.

What Zero Company is

Zero Company is a single-player, turn-based tactics game published by Electronic Arts and developed by Bit Reactor in collaboration with Respawn Entertainment. It is set in the Clone Wars era and puts players in command of a squad that mixes customisable mercenaries with story characters who each bring their own abilities.

Combat is built on action points, which decide how many actions a unit can take and how far it can move in a turn. Squad members can die permanently, which raises the stakes of every mission, and characters who fight together repeatedly build tactical synergy bonuses. Anyone who has played modern XCOM will recognise the structure, and that is no accident.

The studio behind it

Bit Reactor was founded in 2022 by developers who had worked at Firaxis Games on XCOM: Enemy Unknown and XCOM 2. Foertsch was art director on those games before he was invited by Respawn’s Vince Zampella to build a Star Wars tactics project. In the podcast interview, he talked about his focus on well-made in-game cameras, his approach of bringing many team members into development decisions, and his fondness for the droid Huyang.

The launch was not without difficulty behind the scenes. Reports published around release said Bit Reactor furloughed roughly 80 percent of its staff about three weeks before launch, keeping a smaller team for post-launch fixes and support. The studio made that decision independently, before it knew how the game would be received. The interview itself was recorded before those furloughs took place.

How it landed

Zero Company opened to the strongest critical reception of any Star Wars game in years, with its Metacritic score at launch the highest for a Star Wars title since Knights of the Old Republic II in 2004. It also reached the top of Steam’s sales chart in its debut week. Reviewers highlighted its tactical depth and the way the Clone Wars setting is used to support squad-based storytelling rather than simply dress it.

Why it matters

For players, Zero Company fills a gap. Recent Star Wars games have leaned toward action adventure, and a well-reviewed tactics game gives strategy fans a reason to return to the galaxy. If you enjoy XCOM-style play, permadeath and squad building, this is the Star Wars game aimed squarely at you, and it is available now on all major platforms.

For the wider industry, the story is a mixed signal. The design approach Foertsch describes clearly worked, yet the studio cut most of its staff before launch. Whether strong reviews and sales bring those developers back will say a lot about how licensed mid-sized projects are funded going forward.