State of Decay 3 Will Not Come Out In 2027

Few zombie games live up to the hype surrounding them when they are first announced. For example, you can look back at the slew of zombie games that came out in the late 2000s and early 2010s, but of the few successful entries in this genre, one stands out: State of Decay.

The State of Decay hit that perfect sweet spot of having an exciting concept and the ability to make it accessible to everyone. Now, it is on its third sequel, and while we know it is coming, it appears it will not be coming when we think because the upcoming State of Decay 3 is not slated for a 2027 release.

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Summary

• State of Decay 3 was announced in 2020 as part of a lineup of new games for the new Xbox Series X.
• Since that trailer was shown, there have been no new updates about the game, and many have found concept art that seemed to point to a 2027 release date.
• Jez Cordon has now come out and said that this assumption is incorrect.

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We were initially hopeful that the State of Decay 3, or SoD 3 as I will refer to it and its predecessors here, would be released in 2027. That appears not to be the case now, and there are more than a few reasons for it. So, let’s go ahead and take a deep dive into what happened to the State of Decay. 3.

Few industries have seen as many shake-ups in recent years as the gaming industry, particularly regarding the amount of game studios going out of business or being acquired by larger studios. So when Microsoft acquired Undead Labs in 2018, it was a massive shock and relatively normal in equal measure. The studio had obtained success with its first game, State of Decay, and a sequel was already on the way.

Now, the acquisition should have been mutually beneficial for both companies. Undead Labs gets more resources and support from Microsoft, and Microsoft gets new games to put on its subscription service. While this seemed ideal, there were some complications right out of the gate.

The biggest was that the State of Decay 2 seemed unpolished when it was first released; many critics noted that. Another big issue was that the company founder and CEO, Jeff Strain, departed a year after the acquisition.

These two things hit the company hard back to back. But multiple fixes and updates were planned after releasing SoD 2 on the Xbox game pass. These worked as well, as this year’s game crossed over 10 million lifetime users.

But then, during work on SoD 2, the deacon was put in to begin working on a third entry in the series, and this would begin several problems for the company. The first big issue with this is that it was decided while they were still working on the second game, forcing them to divide the workforce. This means they couldn’t go all out on the new entry from the start.

Another seemed to be that there was no coherent plan for State of Decay 3 as there had been for the first two entries. Multiple internal teams were formed, broken up, and then reformed, each working on separate and sometimes redundant concepts for the game. This was supposed to be the prototyping stage, but there were many setbacks without clear communication.

This slow progress continued even into pre-production, where there was still no central theme of the game, but the announcement of a new Xbox was on the horizon. This would seem like a good opportunity to show off that the new game was in development t, but there was a problem: there were no working models. So, the team rushed to assemble the trailer we got for the State of Decay 3.

State of Decay 3 "targeting 2027" from that art profile previously is incorrect btw.

— Jez (@JezCorden) October 2, 2023

Since that trailer, there has been virtually no news on the newest entry other than some concept art referencing a 2027 release date. Jez Cordon has come out and stated that the date listed is accurate, and it will not be released then.

Some people have questioned whether that means that the game will be released earlier. That is possible but doubtful, given that the game seems stuck in development hell. This is because there has been almost no forward progress on the game since its initial announcement, and considering it probably shouldn’t have had an announcement at that time, it is saying a lot.

With all of these details taken into account, it seems more likely we will get this game later rather than earlier. With so much time wasted and so many people gone, it could Be an entirely different game than we first thought back in 2020. Only time will tell what will happen, but in the meantime, we will always have the first two entries.

That is all we have on the State of Decay 3 Will Not Come Out In 2027. We will watch for more news about the game to keep you informed.

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