By Paula Beaton Following yesterday’s Xbox restructuring news, State of Decay Studio Undead Labs has announced its independence from Microsoft, but also confirmed a number of layoffs.
The original State of Decay game was a partnership with Microsoft in 2013 before Microsoft acquired Undead Labs in 2018, so this marks the end of a long partnership. In a statement on the studio’s website, Philip Holt, Studio Head, announced it will now be independent and employee-owned.
“Independence brings us closer to our community and lets us focus on what matters most: making the best games we can and earning the continued support of the people who choose to spend their time with us.”
It’s not all good news, however. In a later post on LinkedIn, Holt confirmed “a significant number” of team layoffs:
“Unfortunately, today we are also saying goodbye to a significant number of our colleagues. It’s difficult to reach this moment knowing that not everyone who helped get us here gets to make the rest of the journey with us.
There have been far too many announcements like this across the industry, and we hate adding to that list. These are people we’d hire again in a heartbeat, and we hope the industry takes notice.”
Back at the start of its restructuring plans, Microsoft said it planned to part ways with Undead Labs and had a buyer lined up, though declined to name them. At the same time, mention of parting ways with Ninja Theory was brought up. Yesterday, following two deals falling through, we heard from Microsoft that it may close the studio.
There’s more good news on the horizon for State of Decay fans as State of Decay 3 is in still in development and aiming to enter closed beta by the end of 2026, with a 2027 release date across Xbox, PlayStation and PC. Despite studio changes including a new, yet to be named publisher, it will still be a day one Game Pass release.
The first State of Decay game has a generally favorable 78 score on Metacritic, while its sequel was less popular, with a more mixed score of 66 and reviews mentioning buggy, laggy gameplay. Let’s hope that the next State of Decay game can revisit the franchise’s glory days and bring players back to everything they loved about the first game.
You can wishlist State of Decay 3 now on Xbox.
If you’re looking for inspiration on what to play ahead of the game’s launch, why not check out our roundup of upcoming Xbox Game Pass games for October.
Fletcher Wilkinson