Star Wars Zero Company launches on 27 August 2026, and it is the first serious attempt at an XCOM-style Star Wars game from people who actually built XCOM. Bit Reactor was founded by former Firaxis developers, and the pitch is exactly what that lineage suggests: turn-based tactics, positioning and cover, ability synergies, and a squad you get attached to.
What is different is the framing. This is a single-player, story-led campaign of 30 to 40 hours with a mostly linear structure — not a sandbox war sim, and not a game with a multiplayer mode bolted on. At $49.99, it is also priced below the current standard for a major publisher release.
Note
Key Takeaways
- Releases 27 August 2026 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Standard Edition is $49.99, Deluxe $59.99.
- Developed by Bit Reactor, a studio founded by former Firaxis developers, and published by Electronic Arts.
- Single-player turn-based tactics set in the twilight of the Clone Wars, with a cinematic original story rather than a sandbox campaign.
- Campaign runs roughly 30 to 40 hours and is mostly linear. No New Game Plus at launch.
- A Bond System unlocks abilities through relationships between squad members, which is the clearest mechanical departure from XCOM.
- Matt Lanter returns as Anakin Skywalker; Dee Bradley Baker voices a new clone trooper called Trick.
- Recommended PC spec targets 1440p / 60 FPS on High with an RTX 3080 or RX 7800 XT and 32 GB of RAM.
What Star Wars Zero Company Is
Zero Company is a cinematic single-player tactics game, and the emphasis on "cinematic" is doing real work. You command an elite squad of operatives through a campaign set during the closing days of the Clone Wars, and the missions are authored set pieces rather than procedurally generated encounters.
The squad composition is the part that will sell it to Star Wars fans. Your operatives can range from scoundrels to astromech droids to a Jedi, with customisation for both the protagonist — a commander named Hawks — and the team around them.
The tactical layer is recognisably XCOM-derived: cover states, flanking, action economy per unit per turn, and abilities that combine into chains when the right units are positioned together.
The Bond System Is the Real Departure
Abilities unlock through relationships between squad members rather than purely through individual experience. Two operatives who have fought together across enough missions gain access to combination abilities neither has alone.
That mechanic pushes against the way most people play tactics games. XCOM's optimal strategy is usually to rotate a deep bench so nobody falls behind and injuries never bottleneck you. A bond system rewards the opposite — committing to a core team and accepting the risk that comes with it.
Whether that produces genuine tension depends on how punishing losses are, which Bit Reactor has not detailed. If squadmates can die permanently, the Bond System is the best idea in the game. If they cannot, it is a progression tree with better flavour text.
PC System Requirements
The recommended spec targets 1440p at 60 FPS on High settings and asks for 32 GB of RAM, which is the notable line. A year ago 16 GB was the standard recommendation for a game of this type; 32 GB in the recommended column reflects where large Unreal-era releases have moved.
| Component | Minimum (1080p / 30 FPS / Low) | Recommended (1440p / 60 FPS / High) |
|---|---|---|
| OS | 64-bit Windows 10/11 | 64-bit Windows 10/11 (11 preferred) |
| CPU | Intel Core i5-8400 / Ryzen 5 2600X | Intel Core i7-10700K / Ryzen 7 3700X |
| RAM | 16 GB | 32 GB |
| GPU | GTX 1080 / RX 5600 XT / Arc B580 | RTX 3080 / RX 7800 XT |
| Storage | 50 GB | 50 GB |
The minimum spec is unusually generous for a 2026 release. A GTX 1080 is a decade-old card, and an Arc B580 being listed alongside it signals that Intel's discrete GPUs are now treated as a mainstream target rather than an afterthought.
Tip
If you are sitting at 16 GB and wondering whether the recommendation is real, our breakdown of whether 32 GB of RAM is overkill for gaming covers where the practical threshold actually falls in 2026. For turn-based games specifically, RAM matters less for frame rate than it does for load times between missions.
For anyone building around this class of requirement, our 1440p gaming PC build lands almost exactly on the recommended column, and the best budget GPU in 2026 covers the cards that clear the minimum comfortably without an RTX 3080 price tag.
How It Compares to XCOM
Zero Company is XCOM's grammar applied to a linear story campaign, and the trade is variety for authorship. XCOM 2 generated missions procedurally, which produced enormous replay value and occasionally produced nonsense. Zero Company hand-builds them, which should mean better encounters and fewer of them.
Shared
Cover-based turn-based combat, flanking, per-unit action economy, ability synergies, squad customisation and base management between missions.
Different
A linear authored campaign instead of a procedural one. Story-driven mission variations instead of randomised objectives. A Bond System that rewards a fixed core squad rather than a deep bench.
Missing at Launch
No New Game Plus. For a 30–40 hour tactics game that encourages specific squad builds, that is the most-noted omission in pre-release coverage.
The absence of New Game Plus at launch is worth flagging plainly. Tactics games live on the second run, when you know the encounters and can build a squad deliberately rather than reactively. Shipping without it does not break the game, but it caps how long it holds people.
The Star Wars Side
The Clone Wars setting is the smartest choice EA could have made for a tactics game. It is the era with the deepest bench of established squads, the clearest faction lines, and an audience that has spent 15 years watching an animated series about small units running dangerous operations.
The casting reinforces that. Matt Lanter returns as Anakin Skywalker, the role he played across The Clone Wars animated series, and Dee Bradley Baker — the voice of essentially every clone trooper ever animated — takes on a new character named Trick. For the audience this game is aimed at, those two names carry more weight than any marketing beat.
The story is original rather than an adaptation, which gives Bit Reactor room to let missions matter without contradicting established events.
What to Watch Before Launch
Whether operative deaths are permanent is the single most important unanswered question. It determines whether the Bond System creates real stakes or decorative ones, and it changes how the whole campaign plays.
Performance on the minimum spec has not been demonstrated. A GTX 1080 target at 1080p/30 is plausible for turn-based combat, where frame rate matters far less than in an action game, but "plausible" is not "tested."
Mission count and structure are undetailed. A 30–40 hour linear campaign could be 25 dense missions or 60 short ones, and those are very different games.
If you are lining up the rest of the PC calendar, our previews of The Witcher 4 and Clockwork Revolution cover the other major single-player PC releases in the same window.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Star Wars Zero Company release?
Star Wars Zero Company launches on 27 August 2026 for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. The Standard Edition is $49.99 and the Deluxe Edition is $59.99, with the Deluxe adding cosmetic packs and Clone Wars-themed weapon skins.
Is Star Wars Zero Company like XCOM?
Yes, structurally. It uses cover-based turn-based combat, flanking, per-unit action economy and squad customisation, and it was made by a studio founded by former Firaxis developers. The main difference is that its campaign is a linear authored story rather than a procedurally generated sandbox.
How long is the Star Wars Zero Company campaign?
Roughly 30 to 40 hours, and the campaign is mostly linear. There is no New Game Plus at launch, which limits replay value compared with other games in the tactics genre.
What are the PC system requirements for Star Wars Zero Company?
The minimum spec is a Core i5-8400 or Ryzen 5 2600X, 16 GB of RAM and a GTX 1080, RX 5600 XT or Arc B580, targeting 1080p at 30 FPS on Low. The recommended spec is a Core i7-10700K or Ryzen 7 3700X, 32 GB of RAM and an RTX 3080 or RX 7800 XT, targeting 1440p at 60 FPS on High. Both need 50 GB of storage.
Does Star Wars Zero Company have multiplayer?
No. It is a single-player game with Steam achievements and cloud save support. Bit Reactor has described it as a solo, story-focused tactics RPG rather than a competitive or co-operative title.
Who voices Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Zero Company?
Matt Lanter, reprising the role he played throughout Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series. Dee Bradley Baker also appears as a new clone trooper character called Trick.
The Bottom Line
Star Wars Zero Company is the tactics game the Clone Wars setting has deserved for over a decade, made by people with the right résumé and priced $20 below what a licensed release of this scale usually asks.
The Bond System is the idea worth watching, and it lives or dies on whether squadmates can be lost permanently. The missing New Game Plus is the clearest weakness, and it matters more in this genre than in most.
Turn-based tactics fans should have 27 August marked. Everyone else should wait for reviews to confirm the campaign has the density its runtime implies.
Screenshots courtesy of Bit Reactor, Electronic Arts, Lucasfilm Games and the respective publications, used for editorial coverage.
Sources
- Electronic Arts, Command the Clone Wars' Most Cunning Operatives in Star Wars Zero Company, Launching August 27, retrieved 2026-08-09, https://news.ea.com/press-releases/press-releases-details/2026/Command-the-Clone-Wars-Most-Cunning-Operatives-in-Star-Wars-Zero-Company-Launching-August-27/default.aspx
- Steam, STAR WARS Zero Company store page and system requirements, retrieved 2026-08-09, https://store.steampowered.com/app/2075800/STAR_WARS_Zero_Company/
- StarWars.com, SDCC 2026: Star Wars Zero Company Mobilizes at San Diego Comic-Con, retrieved 2026-08-09, https://www.starwars.com/news/sdcc-star-wars-zero-company-cast-announce
- G2A News, Star Wars Zero Company: Release Date, Editions, Gameplay, and Story Guide, retrieved 2026-08-09, https://www.g2a.com/news/features/star-wars-zero-company-guide/
- Forbes, Star Wars Zero Company: Release Date And Pre-Order Info, retrieved 2026-08-09, https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianmazique/2026/08/07/star-wars-zero-company-release-date-and-pre-order-info/
