Star Wars Zero Company Lands August 27 With XCOM-Style Permadeath and a Playable Anakin

EA and Bit Reactor have locked in August 27, 2026 as the release date for Star Wars Zero Company, the tactical turn-based strategy game that debuted a full gameplay trailer during Summer Game Fest. It's coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, priced at $49.99 on PC and $59.99 on consoles.

The pitch, for anyone who tuned out after the initial teaser: you command a custom squad of "operators" during the Clone Wars, across more than 150 planets, with permadeath and squad bonding mechanics that anyone who's lost a Ranger in XCOM will recognize immediately. Polygon notes the roster pulls from seven alien races, and the main crew includes a Mandalorian and a Jedi Padawan. Your custom commander runs the operation. Anakin Skywalker also shows up as a playable character, which is the kind of casting decision that's going to drive trailer views regardless of how the actual missions play out.

The XCOM comparison isn't lazy shorthand here. Bit Reactor was founded by veterans of Firaxis — the studio behind XCOM and Civilization — and they're co-developing with Respawn, who've been quietly running EA's Star Wars output since Jedi: Fallen Order. That's a more credible strategy-game pedigree than this franchise has had in a long while. The last time Star Wars got a serious strategy release was Empire at War in 2006, which tells you something about how long this particular well has been dry .

The Clone Wars setting and a playable Anakin raise the obvious question of how deep the canon entanglements go. Is he a recruitable hero unit who can die in a bad ambush? Does the story dance around the fixed points of the prequels, or does it just borrow the aesthetic and let you run your own war? The trailer didn't really answer that, and EA's pre-release materials are being careful about it.

Pre-orders reportedly open at 6 PM PT on June 6, per leaker billbil-kun, who called most of these details well before the official reveal. Take the exact timing with the usual grain of salt until EA confirms it on a storefront.

A tactics game with permadeath, customizable squads, and the Star Wars license is the kind of thing that should have existed years ago. Whether Bit Reactor sticks the landing or whether we're getting a reskinned Gears Tactics is the only question that matters now — and we've got until late August to find out.