Star Wars Zero Company Sells 1 Million Copies, With 69.9% Coming From Steam

Zero Company has sold a million copies, and most of them came from Steam. That is the estimate from Rhys Elliott of Alinea Analytics, who took to social media to discuss Bit Reactor’s strategy game.

The game, developed by former Firaxis XCOM staff, earned 69.9% of its 1 million sales through Steam. PlayStation pulled 19.9%, and Xbox / Xbox PC accounted for 10.2%. Elliott estimates the game has generated around $50 million since its launch.

The Numbers Behind the Million

The breakdown shows where the audience lives. Alinea found that 90% of Zero Company’s players are in North America or Europe, with under 5% in Asia.

The Chinese reviews tell the rest of the story. On Steam, 57% sit at positive, versus an 82% global average. Many reviews point to the lack of voice acting and localisation options.

The Furlough Before Launch

Bit Reactor furloughed “many of its workers” before Zero Company even came out. The company reported that it had “run out of most of its money just ahead of the launch of its first game.”

The studio told Game File the decision was a “difficult decision” made “before it was clear how the launch would go.” It insisted the choice was not influenced by EA or Star Wars rights holder Disney.

Game File reported that 80% of Bit Reactor’s staff were furloughed, leaving a skeleton crew to fix any post-launch problems for the game.

Elliott offered a blunt assessment of the game’s positioning. “It’s SO GOOD, but it’s niche,” he said. “One thing limiting Zero Company’s sales, as with many Star Wars games, is that it’s only really popular in the West.”

What EA Has Not Said

EA has not issued official sales figures for Zero Company or commented on its commercial performance. The company has now gone private, so it is under no obligation to share revenue figures with the market.

That makes Elliott’s $50 million estimate the best number we have. He called the figure “respectable for this genre and during such a crowded period (even with the Star Wars brand attached).”

IGN’s Star Wars Zero Company review returned a 9/10. The review noted the game does a “fantastic job of slathering on the same cinematic look and feel we saw in Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi games, incorporating strong characters and a storyline that’s refreshingly centered on non-Force users and a non-traditional villain.”

The Skeleton Crew

The latest Zero Company patch came out on September 10. The studio has not spoken since.

The irony here is hard to miss. A studio that ran out of money before launch now has a million-seller on its hands, and nobody knows if the publisher is happy. EA is private, so we will likely never find out.

What we do know is that Zero Company is a very good tactical game that happens to be niche. The West bought it, China did not, and the studio is now a skeleton crew trying to keep a patch train alive.

It is a strange position for a first-time developer to be in. Here is the order of events:

1. Bit Reactor furloughed “many of its workers” before Zero Company came out.
2. The company reported it had “run out of most of its money just ahead of the launch of its first game.”
3. The game earned 69.9% of its 1 million sales through Steam.
4. PlayStation pulled 19.9% of sales, and Xbox / Xbox PC accounted for 10.2%.
5. Elliott estimates the game has generated around $50 million since its launch.
6. The latest Zero Company patch came out on September 10.
7. The studio has not spoken since.

The question of whether EA is happy is one we may never answer.

Source material: “Star Wars Zero Company Estimated to Have Sold 1 Million, With Nearly 70% on Steam,” IGN.

Bit Reactor · EA · Star Wars · Steam sales · Zero Company