Undead Labs has already given birth to two games State of Decay, titles asking us to survive in a post-apocalyptic world with zombies. A third installment was announced during a Xbox Games Showcase in 2020, two years after the acquisition of the studio by Microsoft. Since then, it’s been silent.
But here it isUndead Labs been talked about again in recent days and not for the best reasons. Kotaku indeed reports a complicated development, the fault of toxic internal management. A dozen employees or former members of the studio have anonymously revealed risky decisions, such as the design of mechanics of gameplay while the heart of the game had not yet been decided, or the formalization of State of Decay 3 far too early. In addition to burnouts, Undead Labs faces issues of sexism, with women citing their struggle to be heard within the studio, and former human resources director Anne Schlosser doing nothing to help them. An anonymous employee comments as follows:
The culture the studio had until recently wasn’t the most hospitable to anyone who wasn’t a white “cishet” male. It has improved over the last six months or so. But the studio has hired a lot of diverse talent that it hasn’t supported enough in the past.
Jeff Strain, founder of the studio who jumped ship to found Possibility Spacedefended himself in a long post on Medium after being contacted by Kotakuwithout answering him directly. Philip Holt, current director ofUndead Labsis itself pointed to, favoring the hiring of his close friends to the detriment of other candidates. As for Microsoftowner of the studio, well, he wouldn’t mind too much…
However, some employees of Undead Labs do not lose hope and even see a real improvement in their conditions for a few months, allowing them to say that State of Decay 3 will be a very good game, despite its chaotic pre-production. You can find State of Decay: Year One Survival Edition at €15.11 at Gamesplanet.
| Clint008 Writer – Tester |
