With rumors about Bit Reactor's project already swirling, EA confirmed what we suspected. We're getting a turn-based tactical game set in the galaxy far, far away. It's called Star Wars Zero Company, and it's coming to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. We'll get our first look during the April 19 Star Wars Celebration Japan.
Bit Reactor is a studio composed of former Firaxis employees, most famous for their work on the legendary XCOM strategy series. There's no better group to set up overwatch on various alien races to win epic battles.
Lucy James will host the reveal panel featuring Bit Reactor, Respawn Entertainment and Lucasfilm Games sharing the first official look at Star Wars Zero Company. The marriage of Star Wars and tactical strategy seems like one made in Jedi heaven. There are already mods putting Star Wars characters in XCOM, now the fan fiction is coming true.
The XCOM series had been dormant for decades before the 2012 release of XCOM: Enemy Unknown. It introduced a whole new generation to seeing shots with a 99 percent chance somehow miss, ending soldiers lives prematurely.
XCOM 2 took things a scary step further, setting forth a story in which you failed to defeat the alien invaders the first time around. The aliens had integrated themselves into human society, going full Kanamit and pretending to be benevolent overlords. Of course, they were up to all kinds of human experimentation and other shenanigans behind the scenes.
Firaxis took on Marvel superheroes in the 2022 tactical game Midnight Suns. Sadly, this game went underappreciated and didn't meet the lofty sales goals that come with an expensive license. This is a crying shame. I've played through this game multiple times. Please, please play it if you like tactical strategy or superheroes even a little.
Perhaps because of Midnight Suns' underperformance, we haven't heard much in the way of tactics and grids from 2K games in a while. If Star Wars Zero Company is a success, it could pave the way for a tactical renaissance the same way XCOM did in 2012. As Yoda might put it: Happen before, this has.