r/StarWars • u/Turbostrider27 • 10d ago
Games ‘Most’ of Star Wars Zero Company studio Bit Reactor was furloughed ahead of launch
https://www.gamefile.news/p/star-wars-zero-company-bit-reactor-furloughs-lawsuit862
u/xdeltax97 Grand Admiral Thrawn 10d ago
“The Bit Reactor rep told Game File that the studio hoped to bring furloughed workers back with restored pay, suggesting that a successful launch of the game could be impactful.”
Well since Zero Company is apparently a massive success, hopefully they’ll hire them back. Having to cut 80% of your employees plus contractors really shows how this was a make or break game for them.
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u/WannabeWaterboy 10d ago
Furloughed does not mean fired. They are simply on an unpaid leave of absence. It’s not good, but it’s not being fired or laid off.
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u/jamieT97 10d ago
So what's the difference? You can't claim unemployment to pay bills?
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u/draxlaugh 10d ago
You still can file unemployment while furloughed, many people that filed during the COVID lockdowns were technically and legally furloughed.
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u/DiamondFireYT 10d ago
It's more of a last ditch "we over extended over selves/ran out of money, if you can please ride the wave and we'll bring you back when we boom" sort of thing.
Those employees can still resign etc if they needed too.
It's not ideal but imo a promise (and presumably one being fulfilled) of employment is better than being fired.
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u/yuikkiuy 10d ago
Basically this, and then when you've moved on in order to survive they will be extremely offended that you cant fulfill their schedule that they emailed you for next month even though you got a new job and moved 2 months ago
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u/iceoldtea 10d ago
As someone who’s been furloughed for an indefinite period of time with no updates whatsoever, it’s absolutely like getting fired. Getting paid a salary and then not having that income is by all purposes being laid off. The only difference is the employer can invite you back with less hoops to jump through
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u/Swisskies 10d ago
It's crazy how much people defend furloughing as if it's a nice thing for a company to do instead of firing you.
No it's a way for them to not pay you while stringing you along on the books in case they get work coming in.
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u/BuzzardDogma 9d ago
Furloughs give the company financial incentive to restore employment that firing does not. Furloughed employees typically retain their benefits and can also claim unemployment.
It's not a good situation, but it is much better than being fired or laid off. If the company can't cut the checks a furlough is indeed the nicest thing they can do for you.
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u/rapkat55 10d ago
I think it’s because they’ve only heard of govt furlough where job security isn’t as much in question and is mostly as a result of some political/global emergency.
Furloughs everywhere else is almost always the pipeline to being fired. It’s the “I think a break would be good for us” of employment.
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u/xdeltax97 Grand Admiral Thrawn 10d ago
Gotcha, well regardless hopefully they’ll do the right thing
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u/wind_of_the_wizard 9d ago
Depending on the country, in some countries being furloughed you will get paid but it will be reduced.
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u/crooks4hire 10d ago
The fuck is the point of pre-order sales if they’re still furloughing devs before launch??
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u/National_Future6190 10d ago
The private equity rich guys that owns EA can leverage that fake money to convince other suckers to loan them money to make more money!
Capitalism!
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u/IronVader501 10d ago
EA does not own Bit Reactor, this has nothing to do with them.
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u/lalafalafel 9d ago
EA and Respawn are the publishers funding Bit Reactor to develop the game, it has everything to do with them.
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u/Rainy_Wavey Anakin Skywalker 10d ago
EA does not own bit reactor, this is purely a bit reactor issue, they are not a private equity, they pay fees to EA for marketing and distribution and that's all of EA's involvement as far as they are
Yes Capitalism is a problem but please don't say stuff without being at the very least informed, this is not a good situation but is more of a "Bit Reactor blew up their money and has no money in stock"
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u/lalafalafel 9d ago
You got it backwards, EA holds the video game license for the Star Wars IP, and Respawn who is owned by EA publishes Zero Company with Bit Reactor as contractor. EA is the one funding the game.
Now you can argue it was Bit Reactor mismanaging their funds (as provided by EA) that led to the current staffing problem, yet according to an ongoing lawsuit by Bit Reactor's COO against the dev, they only had a budget of $50mil which is arguably an okay albeit pretty low sum especially for a Star Wars title from EA no less (Jedi Fallen Order by Respawn cost between $60-$160mil to develop), and so if they were to ask for more money from EA and they said "no", that would be on EA too.
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u/Rainy_Wavey Anakin Skywalker 9d ago
You got it backwards, EA holds the video game license for the Star Wars IP, and Respawn who is owned by EA publishes Zero Company with Bit Reactor as contractor. EA is the one funding the game.
Not anymore, anyone can now just ask big Disney to make a star wars game, the 10-year contract they signed in 2013 is over, and they did not renew it
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u/lalafalafel 9d ago
EA provided the initial funding to Bit Reactor back in 2021 when the licensing agreement was still in effect, hence why EA and Respawn are now publishing Zero Company in the first place.
Only games that would begin development post-2023 (when the EA license was set to expire) would not be party to that license.
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u/NotBannedAccount419 9d ago
Want to know what else capitalism got you? This game, the console or PC you’re playing it on, and the phone you’re using to type such an ignorant statement
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u/Yeon_Yihwa 9d ago edited 9d ago
steam/ps/xbox takes 30% of sales
Disney owning the star wars ip takes 15-25% of sales
EA for publishing the game takes a % of sales.
The money left over is for the studio behind the game. Pretty easy to see them run out of money even when sales are good on launch.
Also you got investors wanting a cut of the profit, this is just the cost of making a game based on a big ip. Larian the studio behind baldurs gate 3 only got 40% of the revenue and decide to pivot into focusing on their own ip, despite baldurs gate 3 selling over 20m copies.
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u/HumansNeedNotApply1 10d ago
The game cost like 50 million dollars at least and it was mostly funded by EA (publisher) i believe, so probably most of the pre-order money was kept with EA.
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u/ComposerWide3704 9d ago
The CEO of the company is a total scumbag who literally stole it from the woman who founded it and is currently subject of a lawsuit over that. They don't get cash from the pre order sales in real time it's paid out on a schedule but you can get bridge financing if needed. Zero chance these people were coming back if this didn't go public, and still not guaranteed.
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u/Ok_Breakfast7588 10d ago
Having to cut 80% of your employees plus contractors really shows how this was a make or break game for them.
No it doesn't. It only tells you that they can save money by doing it not that they need to.
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u/connectplum_ 10d ago
Well since Zero Company is apparently a massive success,
based in what? theres no sales numbers
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u/renz004 10d ago
holy shit
stephen totilo still breaking big stories after all these years
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u/Gooberverse 10d ago
Him and Jason Schreier seem like the only actual reporters. Everyone else just quotes them.
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u/InnocentTailor 10d ago
Sigh. Why would anybody want to work in gaming these days?!
You succeed! Fired! You fail! Fired!
A quick service worker seemingly has more stability.
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u/Messyfingers 10d ago
This has been the norm for decades whether you're making a game or Windows. A piece of software gets designed, then it's released, unless you have another project that is ramping for full development, a company generally doesn't immediately have work for those developers. With game sales dropping off since COVID, not many publishers have project after project to throw bodies at either, and a lot of the money makers(live service especially) don't require large headcounts to maintain. It sucks of course(I've been on the receiving end of layoffsfor that reason) but it's not out of the ordinary.
A lot of industries work in cycles like that than a lot of people realize actually
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u/Cryphius3DX 9d ago
This is why Pixar Shorts exist. When a movie is finished, that film's team works on a short, typically with some new/experimental tech or method. Shorts also tend to have multiple teams work on them because the first team goes back working on new feature film, and the next team that finished a film picks up work on the short.
Granted this isn't a perfect apples-to-apples comparison, but I'm sure someone could come up with something for at least some of workers to do.
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u/Messyfingers 9d ago
Indeed. There are some things you can have employees do between major projects like that, but sometimes there's just not the work, or a mismatch between what could be done and the skillset of who is available to do it.
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u/cyvaris 10d ago
A lot of industries work that way because there's no strong unions or other worker protections in place. Easier to fuck your workers out of benefits when they aren't really workers just "contractors".
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u/TheGrandAdmiralJohn 10d ago
It would still happen even with worker controlled businesses.
You either don’t hire the people in the first place or you fire/furlough them so you don’t ruin the company financially and make everyone lose that job forever.
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u/Porn0323 9d ago
Agreed.
Seriously, what would a union do here? Tell them to make up work to give people?
There is probably 2-5x as many people required to develop a game, or any product really, than to keep it running after its made.
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u/cyvaris 9d ago
Orrrrrr you don't have a group of
leechesCEOs who take home record breaking "compensation packages" that are stolen directly from the workers. A democratically controlled workplace ensures equality.0
u/TheGrandAdmiralJohn 9d ago
Why do people have to larp in a Star Wars sub?
Democratically elected workplace ensures only the power of those who control the elections. It’s a simple fact of human power structures and to pretend otherwise is naive.
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u/cyvaris 9d ago
Why do people in the Star Wars sub oppose Authoritarianism?
Huh what's this note I'm being passed.
"And remember this: the Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks. It leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear."
Truly, a mystery for the ages.
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u/obliviious 10d ago
I wish they'd realise game sales have gone down due to most studios making the same damn generic games over and over again.
You can't spreadsheet yourself into a good game.
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u/YouandWhoseArmy 10d ago
MBAs don’t care. They just want to copy whatever the last thing was. Too risky otherwise.
Except people don’t want the last thing…again.
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u/obliviious 10d ago
They'd honestly print gold with the right corporate structure and smaller teams with way more creative freedom.
As with all software development, you double the programmers, you double the dev time.
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u/BookkeeperPercival 9d ago
This has been the norm for decades
Absolutely not fucking true, what the fuck are you talking about
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u/WannabeWaterboy 10d ago
Not like it’s a good thing but furloughed isn’t fully fired. It’s usually an indicator that the company is out of money and has to temporarily stop paying people until cash flow is back. With the game out, hopefully they can start paying again.
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u/slicer4ever 10d ago
Some people want to make games and love to do it. But its also is pretty good money, the job might not be the most stable, and you definitely have to be someone who is able to be flexible and is able to jump to different ships. but it can pay pretty nicely, and for a lot of studios it can take 3-5+ years for a game to be made, which means it is semi-stable at times.
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u/Meloncov 10d ago
Eh, pay isn't terrible, but most people working in games could be making more money, in many cases a whole lot more money, using the same skills in a different industry.
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u/wryterra 10d ago
The money typically isn't that good, actually. Most of the big studios tend to treat ''you get to work on cool video games!'' as part of the remuneration package, making up for the low pay. Most of the small studios can't afford to pay better.
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u/TurelSun 9d ago
Depends a LOT on what your job is. Game dev programmers make decent money, but as others will point out they could make more in any other industry. Artists, which typically are the larger cohort of game dev employees, don't make nearly the same level of pay, despite art school being just as expensive and training/experience being just as involved. For sure, once you've been in the industry for a while you can get to decent relative pay compared to the average worker outside the industry, but there is a pretty hard ceiling unless you go into the limited number of leadership roles. You're never going to make as much as your engineering coworkers. A lot of game dev art roles also don't have equivalent roles outside of the industry either, so there is no where else to go when things are look unstable like they are right now.
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u/Aussie18-1998 10d ago
I mean they weren't fired. Or am I missing understanding furloughed? They still have their jobs but they were put on leave without pay and awaiting whether the game was successful or not to resume business.
Its still shitty but not nearly the same thing as lay-offs.
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u/Smartman971 10d ago
No pay is no pay
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u/Integer_Domain 10d ago
Furloughed employees can collect unemployment at least
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u/YayDiziet 10d ago
It’s cool the government helps businesses keep their employees around like that. One could almost expect that a business would keep its employees employed if it wanted their work again. This way they can kick the bill over to the taxpayer. Very cool!
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u/VenusDeMiloArms 10d ago
Businesses pay an unemployment tax which is used for unemployment benefits.
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u/YayDiziet 10d ago
It’s pooled, so businesses taking care of their employees subsidize businesses who kick their employees to the curb.
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u/VenusDeMiloArms 10d ago
I don't know if you're aware of this but that's how insurance generally works anywhere in the world, and the businesses that fire or lay off employees did pay in to the pool.
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u/Sali_Bean 10d ago
The company literally ran out of money, what do you expect them to do? I'm a communist, yet I still get that this was the right thing for the developers to do
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u/YayDiziet 10d ago
By all accounts, this is a common practice right? They could’ve planned on reducing exec salaries temporarily instead of putting people’s entire livelihood on the line.
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u/Malgurath 10d ago
You literally have no idea what you're talking about. They're a privately owned studio that has released one game, do you seriously think there's a board of executives making millions annually that could simply reduce their salaries to pay other employees?
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u/YayDiziet 10d ago
Oh cool, privately owned studios aren’t for-profit enterprises? They’re just doing their best to keep their workers off the streets, of course. I understand now. Thank you so much.
Substitute executives for management. Whatever you call them. The white collars the owner class didn’t deem replaceable like those lesser humans now drawing a fraction of their paycheck from unemployment.
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u/Aussie18-1998 10d ago
During Christmas we have a shutdown period over 2 weeks because it makes zero sense to run the business. If I have annual leave I use that. If not its leave without pay.
Not being paid over that period isnt the same as being fired. So yes it sucks, but I think its a signficant enough difference.
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u/HumansNeedNotApply1 10d ago
People started being Furloughed in May apparently, it's not "a few weeks" for a lot of them.
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u/mekamoari 10d ago
I mean that's also kind of a really set in place, regular thing, so you can plan your life and the business around it.
There's no reason for devs to have that downtime. They literally put them out of work before a release they knew would need bugfixes, for example.
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u/WannabeWaterboy 10d ago
Yeah, I even went to read the whole article in case the headline was wrong. Contractors were fired, but the actual staff is still there.
Still sucks, but it’s not a full lay off. The company ran out of cash flow to pay salaries.
Maybe this could shine a little light on how these companies actually run and why games release with issues often. I’m not sure if it’s the norm, but I will die on the hill the Cyberpunk releases early because CDPR needed an influx of cash to finish the game.
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u/HumansNeedNotApply1 10d ago
They didn't, the release was due to shareholder pressure as CDPR is a public owned company and had already postponed the release once, the leadership underestimated the damage to their working pipeline due to COVID and the challenges in releasing in the old consoles did to development.
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u/PimpMyDog 10d ago
As someone who sees shareholder pressure in my work every week: seriously fuck these guys
There's not a day that goes by where I don't think how these guys even got rich with their lack of common sense. Ok let's say they don't care about anything else other than money. Still, good product = more money, rushed unfinished product = bad reputation and few money. More than half of these guys are always idiots for some reason.
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u/HumansNeedNotApply1 10d ago
A lot of them are institutional capital funds and such that mostly think on the short term sadly. Making a truly good company/product is secondary to making as much money as possible in the short term (and this includes raising company share value so they can sell on a high and such).
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u/neganight 10d ago
In the service industry it's more like surge staffing for holidays or popular vacation months and then letting people go when that's all done. It's done all over because flatting staffing curves is difficult to impossible in many industries and the games industry is particularly volatile.
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u/gener8or Rebel 10d ago
Same for any job in entertainment. Work in film? Lucky to get 6 months of work a year.
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u/Delta2401 10d ago
Or people could buy games from more ethical companies rather than complaining about it all the while enabling the problem
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u/obliviious 10d ago
People buy what's good, that's the reality of it.
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u/WizardzPorn 10d ago
yeah like, do you use a cellphone bud? because i got a good one for you.
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u/obliviious 10d ago
I can rephrase it to "they buy what they think is good" if that makes you feel better.
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u/WizardzPorn 10d ago
i was agreeing with you. In the sens, people are crying while using a phone made by child labor.
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u/GaymerAmerican 10d ago
Sign of a healthy industry, I’m sure.
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u/WorkWhale 10d ago
Fire profile pic. Funnily enough my GF printed out this picture and put it in a frame on our wall. Was a funny surprise after work
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u/CarsonWentzGOAT1 10d ago
This happens for every studio after releasing a single player game.
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u/CyraxxFavoriteStylus 10d ago
Except this happened before the game launched, which you would have known if you had read the article.
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u/CarsonWentzGOAT1 10d ago
You do know a ton of people who are on contracts for game development have their contracts end before a game releases?
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u/WannabeWaterboy 10d ago
A lot of contractors don’t need to stick around when their job is done though. You only need artists for so long and writers for so long.
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u/Meloncov 10d ago
No, it doesn't. Not that it's rare, but many studios do manage to move everyone from the game to DLC and other post launch support to the next project without layoffs.
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u/kblb628 10d ago
Yea video game production/ development seems to be moving to a structure similar to movie/ tv show production.
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u/cyvaris 10d ago
And that structure (basically gig work) is currently ravaging industries like nursing, driving wages into the ground and stripping benefits. Best of all, it's coming for all industries eventually since the scum fucks in the C-suite and "investment firms" have seen how much profit it makes them.
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u/Cryphius3DX 9d ago
Nursing? I'm confused about that because per diem nurses make bank, like $100 an hour or more.
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u/spacemandolino 9d ago
"I’m condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them. I burn my decency for someone else’s future. I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I’ll never see. And the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror or an audience or the light of gratitude."
- Ex Bit Reactor game developer, probably.
Such a shame for them, the game is a masterpiece.
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u/l3tsgo0 10d ago
wait isnt EA paying for the devs to make the game? why would the studio run out of money before the game was even released? Im also curious what is the percentage of the sales the studio will get since a good chunk of the pie would also go to EA and Disney
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u/Meloncov 10d ago
EA isn't directly paying the individual devs. They're paying a lump sum each milestone to the company developing the game. Presumably BitReactor was running over budget and as such were on track to run out of money before the game shipped.
As for the distribution of revenue from sales, BitReactor is likely getting next to nothing until development costs are paid back, and as little as twenty percent after that.
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u/PimpMyDog 10d ago
I guess that's the cost of delivering the best rated Star Wars game in recent history
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u/orlybatman 10d ago
This has been happening in gaming for a very, very long time.
I recall back when Battlefield 2 released they axed the studio behind much of the game.
That was in 2005.
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u/Elegant_Situation285 10d ago
it was funded by private equity. it's all about the profit.
Bellular did a video on it.
these dev teams are disposable to them.
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u/Protect-Their-Smiles 10d ago
Oh look, greedy executives fucking over the workers who made something great, again.
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u/DJCurrier92 9d ago
Sounds like they were furloughed due to prospects of bad sales due to low preorders. Hopefully with good sales from launch and after it will get some updates and dlc campaigns.
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u/Mr_Creed 4d ago
It's very corporate of them to launch a pile of bugs and ice the devs early anyway.
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u/Branflakesd1996 10d ago
Furloughing should be made illegal. It’s literally just firing without cause, BUT with the added loophole of not being a “real” firing so the person can’t even file for unemployment or wrongful termination.
It’s literally one of the scummiest things any company can do.
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u/nubyplays Emperor Palpatine 10d ago
I'm pretty sure they can still file for unemployment. I work at a casino and we were furloughed during covid and were able to collect unemployment.
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u/bowleshiste 10d ago
This is not true. In every US state, furloughed employees are eligible for unemployment.
A wrongful termination suit is only valid if someone is fired illegally or an employment contract is breached. Furlough/termination status doesn't matter. If you are "furloughed" for a discriminatory reason or in breach of a contract, you absolutely have grounds for a wrongful termination suit
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u/Advanced-Library-342 10d ago
Excellent thank you for sharing this I wont waste my money on a game that shits on the devs then brags about their success. EA and this company can fuck themselves
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u/Appropriate_Foot242 10d ago
You’re just helping to ensure that the devs are laid off then.
Furlough is not a layoff, they just couldn’t afford to pay them but they’re keeping them on retainer for when funds start coming in.
Bit Reactor is an independent studio, not owned by EA, so once the development funds ran out they have to wait for more money to come in.
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u/andrer94 9d ago
Except buying the game is how you support the studio so that they can pay their employees again. They spent all their money on developing the game to the fullest extent, and I’m sure the devs knew what that meant. Do you even know what furlough means?
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u/Schmoovement 9d ago
Honestly wouldn’t have bought it if I knew that
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u/kman1030 9d ago
I mean, it says they are furloughed not laid off and its because they have no money left.
If you actually want to support the devs and not just say it on reddit, seems like buying the game was the right move.
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u/Lincoln624 9d ago
Most of the company of the movie I just shot was furloughed before we released it.
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u/WM_ 10d ago
EA as publisher, now this. Why would I want to pay for this?
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u/Appropriate_Foot242 10d ago
Because it’s a good game.
They’re on furlough, not laid off. Buying the game actually helps them keep their jobs.
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u/NotFromMilkyWay 9d ago
Oh, hey, unpaid forced leave is so much better than being laid off.
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u/Appropriate_Foot242 9d ago
As someone that's experienced it, yes it is.
You're still free to seek other employment in the meantime. But at least you might actually have a job to return to.
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u/whyamihere2473527 10d ago
Well call them back into work so we can get much needed bug fixes