While we got quite a few details about upcoming games during the recent Xbox Developer_Direct, one of the notable absences was Undead Labs’ State of Decay 3. Speaking to GamesRadar, head of Xbox Game Studios and former head of Rare, Craig Duncan has said that we will see more of the still-in-development zombie game this year.
While he noted that he wasn’t yet allowed to talk about State of Decay 3 for now, he did note that development has been coming along quite well, and that he got the chance to play development builds “a bunch of times”.
“I think the [PR] in this room will murder me if I give you the answer to that,” he said. “So, here’s what I’ll say: I have done a number of visits to that studio in the last six to eight months. I have sat and played the game with the team a bunch of times. It’s coming on really well. We’re very excited about the franchise and its potential.”
“So I will certainly see a lot more of it in the coming year… is that a good answer to your question? [laughter]”
Undead Labs has been quiet about its work on State of Decay 3, and the last time we got to see anything about the third-person survival zombie game was an in-engine trailer all the way back in 2024. The studio itself has been the subject of controversy, however, with reports from back in 2022 indicating that the working conditions were rife with sexism and toxicity. This eventually led to several departures from the studio, which in turn had a notable impact on the game’s development progress. July 2025 also saw Undead Labs hit by lay-offs.
More recent rumours about State of Decay 3 have indicated that it will follow suit with other games under the Xbox Game Studios banner and will also come to PS5. Whether this means its PS5 version will launch on the same day as its PC and Xbox Series X/S release, or if this will happen at a later date, is currently unknown.
The State of Decay series originally started back in 2013 as a game on Xbox Live Arcade. The game is set in a town where the dead have risen, and revolves around their efforts to rally the local survivors to form a new community. Along with third-person combat, State of Decay also had an emphasis on survival mechanics, which meant that your community’s food and water were important things to track.
Its—2018’s State of Decay 2—upped the ante by introducing a host of different small-town settings of varying difficulty to choose from. The sandbox elements were also expanded on, along with the addition of 4-player co-op. While it also enjoyed post-launch support with new updates, including an updated re-release in 2020 dubbed the Juggernaut Edition, Undead Labs had announced back in 2024 that it was stopping development on more updates for State of Decay 2 to instead focus its teams on making State of Decay 3.
