State of Decay 3 is being developed in Unreal Engine 5 with the help of Gears of War studio

State of Decay 3
(Image credit: Undead Labs)

State of Decay 3 is still firmly underway and is being developed in Unreal Engine 5 alongside Gears of War studio The Coalition. 

As spotted by WCCF Tech, this news comes from Xbox Games Studio Head Matt Booty, who has appeared as a guest on a recent episode of the Xbox's Major Nelson podcast. During the episode, Booty discusses the studios under Xbox's belt with host Larry Hryb when the topic of Undead Labs - the developer behind State of Decay - comes up. 

Talking about the studio's upcoming projects, Booty says: "[Undead Labs is] working with The Coalition up in Vancouver, our Gears of War studio," the Xbox boss reveals, "using some of the technology around Unreal Engine 5 and some of the stuff that's been in Gears of War before to bring that into State of Decay."

Elsewhere in the interview, Booty also shares: "The week before last, we spent all day at Undead Labs in Seattle, which was great, getting the update on State of Decay 3, which has really got some cool stuff." The Xbox head then goes on to talk about State of Decay 2 which, in his words, "just continues to grow its user base" before going on to say: "The things they are doing there [on State of Decay 2], are really the testbed, the proving grounds, for all the stuff that's going in State of Decay 3."

It's nice to get some update on the upcoming survival horror game since we haven't heard much about it since it was unveiled during an Xbox and Bethesda Showcase in 2020. This could be due in part to the reports of alleged toxic culture and mismanagement at State of Decay 3 studio earlier this year. 

Wondering what other games we should keep an eye out for in the near future? Take a look at our upcoming Xbox Series X games list. 

Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.