State of Decay 3 May Not Be On GamePass, And XBOX Is Okay With It

Microsoft recently announced the most important restructuring in the history of XBOX, with more than 3,200 employees to be laid off by 2027, and the company’s four game studios given new management.

XBOX CEO Asha Sharma announced the layoffs earlier today, revealing that XBOX is currently operating at 3-10x lower margins than its competitors, as the company’s all-in bets on Game Pass didn’t pay off as expected. 1600 employees have been laid off today, with further redundancies to be made throughout F2027.

Senua and State of Decay 3 Surviving the XBOX Remaster

The four studios leaving XBOX are: Compulsion Games, Double Fine Productions, Ninja Theory, and Undead Labs. Compulsion Games and Double Fine will return to private ownership and switch to independent studios for their next games, while Undead Labs and Ninja Theory now have new owners.

XBOX is also making significant cuts to all of its other studios and will focus on developing more important projects. The cuts will affect Activision, Bethesda/ZeniMax, Blizzard, King, Mojang, and XBOX Game Studios, but Sharma said no first-party XBOX games have been publicly announced to be canceled as a result of the restructuring.

As employees and studios leave the XBOX family, gamers are left wondering what the company’s future games will be. Fortunately, Ninja Theory’s upcoming action-adventure game, Senua, and Undead Labs’ zombie survival, State of Decay 3, have both been successful and will continue to be developed under their new ownership. Per Asha, “Ninja Theory and Undead Labs have entered into terms of joining new ownership with funding to complete and grow. Senua again State of Decay 3. In France, Arkane’s management is starting the necessary consultations with the Works Council to review possible strategic options.

According to a report from GameFile, an unnamed source says State of Decay 3 may not be released on Game Pass: “The deal requires continued funding and an eventual release of State of Decay 3 but will not bind the game to any Xbox regulatory terms, such as having to be on Game Pass.”

State of Decay has built a strong fan base for zombie survivors, and the third installment of the series is expected to arrive in 2027 and will feature shared world multiplayer—a long-requested feature.

SoD3 players will be able to enjoy four-player co-op, shared progression, and the ability to start multiple settlements and create a social network, so it’s safe to say that this fanbase is in for a treat.

Major Administrative Changes

Sharma’s announcement reveals that a large part of the company’s problem stems from an excessive number of management structures, which will soon be significantly reduced. Sharma pointed out that some parts of the company have as many as 14 layers of management, which has led to blurred accountability and slow decision-making, but this layoff will simplify their process in a big way.

Sharma says, “We will reduce the layers of management to no more than 5, and where possible, 3. We will bring success by using a lean organization built around doers (individual collaborators focused on design), player coaches (leaders who stay deeply involved in the work while developing their teams), and directly responsible people (DRIs) who own important decisions and results. And we will use clean resources, share the code and base of our application. 50% reduced usage to the merchant.”

XBOX also added a Chief Operating Officer for the first time, with XBOX veteran Helen Chiang taking on the role. Chiang has been with XBOX for nearly two decades and will focus on overseeing investment decisions and bringing the company under a single operating model.

Systems

Released

2027

The ESRB

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Engine

Unusual Engine 5

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