Night of the live service game

Image credit: Undead Labs

State of Decay 3 was announced with a snazzy cinematic trailer all the way back in 2020 . The open-world zombie game was due to move to colder climes, where you would face undead deer and survive the frigid elements. We've since learned that the teaser bore very little resemblance to what was actually being worked on , and was pushed out the door to plump up a Microsoft showcase.

However, what the teaser also didn't reveal was that Undead Labs' ideas for the game were much larger in scope than the two survival games that came before. For several years they were trying to make State of Decay 3 into an MMO that captured the scale of a global zombie apocalypse.

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In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz detailing the recent move to independence after Xbox cut the studio loose , Undead Labs CEO Philip Holt explains that the team's founder, Jeff Strain, planned to expand the series from its co-op roots into a full MMO.…