Not everything is rosy at Xbox. Although Microsoft regularly communicates on the notions of inclusivity within its teams, one studio seems to be the victim of questionable practices.
Announced in July 2020, State of Decay 3 has not shown up at all since the release of its first trailer. And apart from the fact that the game will use the Unreal Engine 5 engine, we have absolutely no concrete information about this third opus. And there is a reason that has unfortunately become all too common behind this heavy silence.
A studio with an apocalyptic atmosphere?
The Kotaku site conducted its little investigation into the situation at Undead Labs. According to this investigation, the studio acquired by Microsoft in 2018 would be affected by sexist behavior. Women are said to be harshly criticized or even totally ignored during the meetings. Furthermore, the director of human resources is “incompetent” to respond to requests from employees who are victims of this behavior.
But, beyond that, it is the development of State of Decay 3 which is probably in trouble. According to Undead Labs employees, Microsoft announced the game too quickly, when teams didn't even know what it was going to look like. Several team reorganizations were even necessary to finally be able to start production. Thus, it is unclear when State of Decay 3 will be released.
