State of Decay 3, the next installment in the zombie-survival franchise on Xbox, is being developed in Unreal Engine 5 with the help of The Coalition, the team behind Gears of War. State of Decay 3 will bring fans back into the immersive universe that was conjured in State of Decay and its successor. The title will deliver a new story and environment, along with some mechanics that have appeared in previous Gears of War installments.
State of Decay is developed by Undead Labs, but it seems as though the team at Xbox is trying to make the upcoming title more daring than previous entries in the series. Taking advantage of tools within Unreal Engine 5, while also utilizing gameplay from the Gears of War franchise, will potentially make the next State of Decay game a force to be reckoned with.
Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, recently spoke about the development of State of Decay 3 on Xbox's Major Nelson podcast. This is good news for fans of the franchise, especially considering that there hasn't been much information about the series lately. Booty claimed that Undead Labs is working with the studio behind Gears of War, The Coalition, to bring new technologies to State of Decay. He also noted that a lot of the concepts in State of Decay 2 may be getting overhauls in the franchise's next game. This doesn't mean that the building of State of Decay is going perfectly, however. There have been many delays to the title, along with claims of a toxic workplace environment at Undead Labs.
Indeed, if everything at Undead Labs was progressing without an issue, there would likely be no need to include another studio in the project. Hopefully, however, the developers successfully addressed the issues with workplace practices and are moving forward with a clearer vision of State of Decay 3. There were many reports about problems within Undead Labs' studio, all of which claimed that the team could not agree on a direction for the title.
Of course, State of Decay 3 is only one of the upcoming AAA games coming to Xbox Series X. But that doesn't mean fans should ignore it or stand for a drop in quality. The second installment in the franchise has been steadily growing in popularity, and many players have come to enjoy the State of Decay universe. As the next game continues to be crafted, gamers can hope that the title will be as engaging as its predecessors.
State of Decay 3 is currently in development.