In a recent interview, the studio boss at Undead Labs, Philip Holt, dived deep into the recent events that saw the company split from XBOX while developing the long-awaited State of Decay 3. The interview landed at an appropriate time, given that Undead Labs is preparing to push out a beta test for State of Decay 3, which will be the team’s first new game in more than seven years.
When talking about the stability of State of Decay now, Holt was very transparent, stressing that, despite having parted from XBOX, the tech titan’s subscription service is still feeding the post-apocalyptic wasteland with players.
State of Decay is Still Going Strong
It has been years since State of Decay 3 was revealed, but in an interview with The Game Business, Philip Holt, the head of the studio at Undead Labs, explained why they felt they needed to unveil it so early.
He then went on to talk about how State of Decay has remained so successful over the years, linking the franchise’s growth to the XBOX presence it maintained for a good decade. When State of Decay 3 launches, it’ll drop on Game Pass, keeping up a symbiotic relationship that, as Holt said, has resulted in a steady, never-ending stream of players.
It was stressed that XBOX Game Pass enabled State of Decay to hit 25 million players, and that it’s still the gift that keeps on giving:
I don’t know that we’d be in the place we are today if not for the Game Pass audience.
Even today, we have several thousand people coming through the door every day. The benefit of State of Decay is that it’s a very retentive game. Last time I looked, something like half of our monthly active users have been in the game for close to two years, and a quarter for more than five.
A lot of players from Game Pass come in and they’re like ‘this isn’t for me’ and leave. There is a high churn rate. But of the players we capture, we capture for a long time. And then they become franchise fans and consume other titles, and they’re excited for State of Decay 3. It’s really helped us achieve scale.
Holt is excited about the prospect of State of Decay 3 furthering the concepts of open-world exploration, co-operative gameplay, and survival against the odds. We already know how expansive and ambitious the game will be, and the fact that it is now being built by an independent studio makes no difference to the delivery of the game.
Put simply, millions are waiting for this game, and it doesn’t necessarily matter how it’s published, only that it will be published.
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Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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