The State of Decay franchise is an underrated classic of Xbox's modern first-party offerings. Released in 2013, State of Decay was Undead Labs' very first title, and it was quite the debut. Capitalizing on the zombie hype just before its steep decline in the mid-2010s, the first State of Decay was a great survival game that quickly became one of Xbox Live Arcade's best titles. A sequel, State of Decay 2, released in 2018. and while it wasn't as well received, it became a standout title in the early days of Xbox Game Pass. A few years later, Undead Labs is hard at work on the next game in the series, State of Decay 3, which seems to be a much bigger, more difficult project for the studio, based on The Coalition's involvement.
While State of Decay 2 was a fairly big step up from its predecessor in terms of visuals, mechanics, and scope, State of Decay 3 seems to be pushing the studio to its very limits. In fact, head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty has recently confirmed that Undead Labs is being assisted by Gears of War developer The Coalition on State of Decay 3, which highlights just how complicated modern-day development really is.
State of Decay 3 Shows Just How Complex Modern-Day Development Is
After State of Decay 2 released, Microsoft acquired Undead Labs, adding it to its ever-growing roster of first-party studios. The studio immediately began working on a third installment in the series, with a few devs still working on updates for State of Decay 2. At the time, some fans were a little confused about the acquisition, since Undead Labs was only known for working on State of Decay, which had been a pretty hit-or-miss series to that point. But all these years later, it seems as though that was the best move for the studio, with other first-party development teams now being able to work alongside Undead Labs to help create its next project.
In a recent interview with the head of Xbox Game Studios, Matt Booty, he mentions that The Coalition is currently helping Undead Labs with development on State of Decay 3, stating that Xbox wants the sequel to "compete visually," and in order to do so, it needs a little assistance from another first-party studio. Booty also mentioned that The Coalition isn't just helping Undead Labs, but is in fact working across Xbox's first-party development teams, teaching them how to use Unreal Engine 5, and apparently bringing in mechanics from the Gears of War series to better help those games.
Undead Labs needing assistance from The Coalition for State of Decay 3 only serves to cement just how difficult and complex modern game development really is. Long gone are the days where an office of eager devs can make a AAA game in just a few months. Now, even first-party studios need assistance from other, more experienced, larger development teams. With games getting bigger and better than ever, AAA developers need to evolve and grow alongside their projects.
It's becoming more and more difficult to develop AAA games that live up to expectations in a short timeframe, so gamers should expect to see more collaboration like Undead Labs and The Coalition's in the near future. Combining teams not only helps to get a project out on time, but it also ensures a higher level of quality, with the more experienced studios being able to pick out exactly what works and what doesn't. Game design has always been a difficult job, but with expectations growing every year, developers may need to band together more to get the job done.
State of Decay 3 is in development.