At the recent Xbox Developer Direct presentation, the highly anticipated State of Decay 3 from Undead Labs was once again absent. However, GamesRadar managed to speak with the head of Xbox Game Studios, Craig Duncan, who commented on the current state of the project. He noted that he cannot reveal details about future showings of the game, but made it clear that development is progressing actively.
«I think the PR person in this room will kill me if I give a direct answer to that question. So I'll say this: I've visited that studio multiple times in the last six to eight months. I've sat with the team and played the game many times. It's progressing very well. We're very excited about the future of that franchise. So I'll definitely see it many more times in the coming year… is that a good answer to your question?»
State of Decay 3 was presented in the summer of 2020 as the first game in the series being created on Unreal Engine 5 with the direct participation of Xbox Game Studios. After the announcement, there was little official information about the project. Mainly, rumors about a possible release on PlayStation 5, as well as reports of personnel changes at Undead Labs, were discussed in the media.
In the spring of 2025, insiders claimed that the game is «closer to completion than it seems,» but since then Microsoft has not given official confirmation of this. It is not yet known whether State of Decay 3 will be released in 2026, but Duncan's comments at least make it clear that the project remains in active development and has not been frozen.