Bit Reactor Begins Bringing Back Staff From Unpaid Leave On STAR WARS Zero Company
The recalls move Bit Reactor past the point where rehiring depended on sales performance, but with no headcount disclosed and a lawsuit between Foertsch and co-founder Alison Kelly still running, the studio is only partway back to a full team.
Reporting from 1 source: Automaton.
Bit Reactor has started returning employees who were placed on temporary unpaid leave, CEO Greg Foertsch said on October 8. Roughly 80 percent of the STAR WARS Zero Company development team had been on leave, with minimal staff handling bug fixes. Game File, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that paid staffing has recovered to more than half its level before the leave. The number who have returned is not disclosed.
Foertsch framed the leave as a difficult but necessary call made shortly before launch, and said he wants as many staff back as possible. He thanked the team and the fans and said new information about Bit Reactor and the game is coming in the near future.
The return is staged, so the number of recalled developers can keep rising. That number is still unstated. A lawsuit between Foertsch and co-founder Alison Kelly over ownership of the company continues, and it has been suggested as a possible cause of the leave without a clear connection being established.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.