State of Decay 3 no longer needs to release on Game Pass following Xbox split
The game was announced in 2020, and reappeared last month
State of Decay 3 is reportedly no longer obligated to be released on Xbox Game Pass following Undead Labs’ exit from Microsoft.
On Monday, it was announced that Undead Labs, alongside several other studios, would be leaving the Microsoft stable following widespread restructuring that has resulted in thousands of job losses.
One silver lining among the difficult news was the announcement that both Ninja Theory and Undead Labs had found new owners, and both studios’ previously announced games would be released.
However, it’s now being reported that Undead Labs’ upcoming zombie game, State of Decay 3, may no longer appear in Xbox Game Pass.
According to Game File, part of the exit deal, which was announced Monday, means that Undead Labs would no longer be required to release its next game into Microsoft’s subscription service.
It is not clear if these terms also apply to Ninja Theory’s Senua, which was also announced for Xbox Game Pass. It is still possible that Microsoft reaches a new agreement with Undead Labs and its new, currently unknown owners to release the game as part of the service.
Undead Labs was acquired by Microsoft in 2018, and in the eight years between acquisition and eventual sale, it didn’t release a single game under the software giant.
State of Decay 3 was announced back in 2020, with the developer later admitting that its reveal trailer was purely designed to announce that the game was coming, because at that point the game was just “a Word document”.
The game finally reappeared at the Xbox Game Showcase in June, where it was announced for a 2027 release on PS5, Xbox Series consoles, and PC.
