XCOM Vets Team Up with EA to Launch “Star Wars Zero Company” This August

Redwood City, Calif. — Let’s be completely honest: when you think of Star Wars games, your brain probably jumps straight to swinging lightsabers, dodging laser fire in a third-person action game, or piloting an X-Wing through an asteroid field. It is all very flashy, high-octane, and… well, a bit played out. But what about the quiet, agonizing tension of a grid-based tactical firefight? EA and Lucasfilm Games want to fill that hyper-specific void.

They’ve just announced Star Wars Zero Company, a gritty, single-player turn-based tactics game that is scheduled to hit PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S on August 27, 2026.

If you are a strategy nerd, the real selling point here isn’t actually the Star Wars branding. It’s the developer pedigree. The game is being built by Bit Reactor, an independent studio headquartered in Maryland that was founded by a bunch of absolute legends from the strategy scene. We’re talking about the key minds behind decorated titles like XCOM, Civilization, and Gears of War.

Greg Foertsch, Bit Reactor’s CEO and Creative Director, is running the show here. That means we can probably expect the kind of deep, punishing tactical gameplay that makes you want to throw your keyboard out of the window when a 99% hit chance somehow misses. It works. It is punishing. But it is incredibly satisfying.

Set squarely in the dark, morally gray shadows of the Clone Wars, the game drops you into the combat boots of Hawks, a former Galactic Republic officer who now runs “Zero Company”—a highly specialized, somewhat cynical mercenary squad. You aren’t commanding armies of identical white-armored clones here.

Instead, you are managing a bizarre, ragtag group of specialists for hire, including a rogue Mandalorian from the ancient Clan Verminoth, a disillusioned Jedi Padawan, and a standard-issue Clone Trooper. Your target? Kundri Fathom, the fanatic leader of a creepy, Separatist-aligned cult called the Infinite Coil.

From your secret base of operations, poetically named “The Den,” you will run the entire campaign. You’ll recruit new troops, upgrade your facilities, buy better blasters, and pick your next target off a glowing holotable. On the field, things get even deeper. Characters develop personal bonds that unlock unique support abilities and cross-training stats.

And you won’t just be fighting on the same three dusty planets as the game features an interactive galaxy map spanning over 150 planets where your choices actively branch the narrative.

Customization seems to be the absolute focal point of the experience. You can build your squad using eight playable Star Wars species: Devaronian, Human, Neimoidian, Ovissian, Togruta, Twi’lek, Weequay, and Zabrak.

Yes, you can finally live out your dream of running an all-Zabrak death squad. You can tweak everything from their voices and outfits down to their specific combat talents and sub-specializations over time.

Standard editions will set you back $49.99 on PC and $59.99 on consoles, while the Deluxe Edition goes for $59.99 on PC and $69.99 on consoles. Pre-ordering either edition nets you some exclusive astromech droid skins, including the BR-1 droid.

To make things even classier, the game features an original orchestral score composed by Grammy-winner Gordy Haab, releasing via Walt Disney Records on launch day.

If you want to get your tactical fix, pre-orders are officially live right now on the EA Star Wars portal. Frankly, August can’t get here soon enough.