Speaking in a recent episode of the Major Nelson podcast, Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty revealed that Gears of War developer The Coalition is aiding Undead Labs with its expertise on Unreal Engine 5, which is the engine that State of Decay 3 is being built on as well.

“You mentioned Undead Labs, they’re working with The Coalition up in Vancouver, our Gears of War studio, using some of the technology around Unreal 5 and some of the stuff that’s been in Gears of War before to bring that into State of Decay,” Booty said (transcriber by Pure Xbox).

State of Decay 3 is in development for Xbox Series X/S and PC. The game doesn’t yet have a release date. When it was announced in 2020, Undead Labs said the project was in early pre-production, though there haven’t ben any updates on it since then.

We finally have a little bit more information on what is happening with the game now though, as Undead Labs Animation Director Simon Sherr recently revealed on his LinkedIn (as spotted by @Klobrille on Twitter) that the studio is opening up a new branch in Orlando, Florida, and that State of Decay 3 will be developed Unreal Engine 5, which has been previously reported as well.

As per Sherr’s LinkedIn page, he is “developing a new Microsoft studio under Undead Labs in Orlando”, and Sherr is responsible for “directing animation and Animation Technology in Unreal Engine 5 for Undead Labs’ State of Decay 3“, along with “fostering cross-studio animation technology collaboration and animation technology initiatives across Xbox Game Studios”.

It will be interesting to see what the studio does in the near future, as Unreal Engine 5 is shaping up to be a great platform for the developers to showcase their games, and what great news opening up the Orlando studio brings for everyone.

It looks like Undead Labs is building a new support studio in Orlando.

"Developing a new Microsoft studio under Undead Labs in Orlando, directing animation in UE5 for State of Decay 3 & fostering cross-studio animation technology initiatives across XGS."https://t.co/XRDBGx4jMX pic.twitter.com/KTGzPiV9wy

— Klobrille (@klobrille) January 2, 2022

With next gen right around the corner, all of us have all sorts of wishlists in our minds, and most of them, of course, are all about the thing that matters most- the games. There’s so many games we’d like to see on next-gen platforms, so many franchises we’d like to see making a return. In this feature, we’ll be talking about fourteen sequels to Microsoft-owned franchises that we’d like to see on the Xbox Scarlett, at one point or another.

Some of the games we’ll be mentioning will be obvious picks, the kind that will inevitably show up sooner rather than later, while others will be more out there, as hopes and dreams go. In all cases though, keep in mind that this is a wishlist, not a prediction list. With all that out of the way, let’s get started.

HALO WARS 3

Halo will, of course, be a major presence on Xbox Scarlett – it’s launching with the next big Halo title, after all – but we’d like to see more from the franchise on the console than just its mainline games. Halo Wars started as an interesting strategy offshoot, and though the first game was definitely a flawed one, it showed plenty of promise. Halo Wars 2 made good on a lot of its potential, and was a much better game than any of us were expecting it to be. Our hope is that Microsoft will continue to invest in this branch of Halo, and allow Halo Wars to continue its upward trajectory with a third game.

CONTRA

When Contra was at its peak, it was one of the best franchises in the industry. Contra games brought with them a guarantee of riotous fun, gruelling action, and non-stop carnage, and when the franchise died down with the advent of time, it came as a bitter disappointment to a lot of people. Recently, Konami revived the franchise- perhaps “revived” is the wrong word though, because really, all Contra: Rogue Corps has done is drive the series even further into its depressing grave. Opting for a third person shooting style instead of the sidescrolling run’n’gun action the series is know for, Contra: Rogue Corps completely misses the mark in every way possible, and doesn’t seem to understand what fans liked about the series in the first place. It’s failure is made all the more baffling when you consider that an indie game called Blazing Chrome that came out earlier this year delivered everything that made people love Contra in spades- and yet Konami seem to have completely lost their way. Perhaps it’s best to let the legendary property die with some dignity.

Microsoft had revealed at E3 that they had acquired five studios to make first party titles for them, and Undead Labs was one of these studios. In a recent podcast with The Inner Circle, the studio’s designer director Richard Foge shared his thoughts about the recent acquisition and it looks like Microsoft has a lot of great things planned for the future.

Microsoft had suggested earlier that the studio would continue to work on the State of Decay franchise after this recent acquisition. Until now, we had not been able to hear from the studio what they will be working on in the future.  Foge confirmed that the studio would continue to work on the same franchise and he also stated  that Microsoft was really ambitious with regards to the games they wanted to bring to the fans.

Foge said, “I get the impression I’m going to be working on State of Decay for the foreseeable future. I think in my personal opinion, Microsoft is swinging for the fences. They’re not fooling around, they really want to be on top, they want to be on top with the best games, the best hardware and making people happy.” This makes us excited to see what the future holds for Microsoft and all of the studios that they had recently acquired.

State of Decay, the great zombie action game from Undead Labs that made so many waves on the Xbox 360, is finally coming to the Xbox one this month, and when it does, it will have all new Achievements to boot as well. Offering a max Gamerscore of 1500G, the title offers ten new Achievements for the base game, and 16 new Achievements across the expansions.

The new Achievements should provide even those players who have already played through the game when it first released on the Xbox 360 with enough incentive to check it out again, if the promise of seeing it in 1080p was not enough for them. The full list of the new Achievements that are being added to the game is below:

State of Decay

• Get Over Here (20G), invited a community member to follow you
• Serial Monogamist (30G), invited a community member to follow you 10 times
• Rule #2 (25G), maxed out a community member’s Shooting skill
• Rule #18 (25G), maxed out a community member’s Fighting skill
• Rule #31 (25G), maxed out a community member’s Wits skill
• Apples and Beans (20G), fixed delicious snacks five times
• Powder and Primer (20G), crafted ammunition five times
• Watch the World Burn (30G), killed 25 zombies with incendiary shotguns

*Plus two hidden Achievements worth a total of 50G

State of Decay: Breakdown

• The Friend (10G), reached Breakdown Level two
• The Convict (15G), reached Breakdown Level three
• The Gunner (20G), reached Breakdown Level four
• The Veteran (25G), reached Breakdown Level five
• The Scholar (10G), completed All Research Projects at Breakdown Level one or Higher
• The Phoenix (10G), burned 100 Zombies with Fire at Breakdown Level two or Higher
• The Fighter (10G), destroyed five Ferals at Breakdown Level three or Higher
• The Sniper (10G), earned 25 Headshot Streaks at Breakdown Level four or Higher

State of Decay: Lifeline

• The Doctor (15G), brought Thomas Horn to the Landing Zone, at least
• The Surgeon (15G), successfully extracted Julene Horn
• The Bureaucrat (15G), successfully extracted Michele Martin
• The Examiner (15G), successfully extracted Timothy Hall
• The Scion (15G), successfully extracted Hadley Westen
• The Colleague (15G), successfully extracted Dan Bogatz
• The Protégée (15G), successfully extracted Madison Grant
• The Operator (15G), brought Eldridge to Black Friday, but he won’t leave

State of Decay launches on Xbox One on April 28.

The great Xbox 360 zombie video game, State of Decay, will now be coming over to the Xbox One too- and to celebrate this fact, we got a hell of an announcement trailer, that you can see above, to get us pumped for one of last generation’s best digital only games all over again. And it’s in 1080p, no less. If you’re into that sort of thing, that is.

State of Decay, which will be given the subtitle ‘Year One: Survival Edition’ on Xbox One, will allow players to transfer their saves from the previous version over, and it will also be offered at a 33% discount to those who already bought the game back when it was out on the Xbox 360. In addition, returning players will also receive extra goodies such as the character Gurubani Kaur and her exclusive weapons.

State of Decay: Year One Edition launches April 28, for Xbox One and for PC. We’ll keep you posted.

Undead Labs’ open world post-apocalyptic State of Decay has been an immense success for the company, selling 2 million copies on the Xbox 360 and PC via Steam. The game will also be out on the Xbox One as State of Decay: Year One Survival Edition in Spring 2015 and will include brand new content along with all the DLC released till now. It will also have revamped visuals on top of this.

It’s worth noting that State of Decay has been out since June 2013 for the Xbox 360 before it headed to Steam several months later. The game has received critical praise for its open world mechanics, emphasis on survival and resource gathering, permanent character death and team management. To say that it was the best Xbox 360 game of 2013 is an understatement.

What are your thoughts on State of Decay’s success and will you pick it up on the Xbox One? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

… for mobiles.

Yes, that was extremely anticlimactic, but it is what it is.

Undead Labs, the folks known for the excellent zombie shooter, State of Decay, that came to the Xbox 360 and PC last year, have announced their new game, and if you were expecting for something awesome that would follow in State of Decay’s footsteps, maybe for the Xbox One, well, then this will be a bit of a letdown for you.

You see, their new game in a new RPG. It’s called Moonrise. it is coming for mobiles.

If that’s not bad enough, then it is being released in association with Kabam games, who describe themselves as the leaders of free to play mobile gaming in the west.

This is terrible.

“We are thrilled to partner with Undead Labs. They are a veteran team that has worked on some of the greatest game franchises of all time,” said Aaron Loeb, senior vice president of Kabam’s North American Studios. “Their new creation, Moonrise, will bring a truly next generation mobile experience to gamers around the world.”

“We’re a gamer-focused studio with a great console pedigree,” said Undead Labs’ Jeff Strain. “And Kabam is a world-class publisher focused on delivering console-quality games on mobile devices. It’s a perfect match.”

Well, I guess we’ll be keeping you posted on this game as well. Stay tuned.

State of Decay: Lifeline, the new DLC for Undead Labs open world survival horror sandbox title, is now available for the Xbox 360. The DLC takes place in the brand new city of Danforth and follows the Greyhound One military unit as they seek to save a group of scientists in order to end the zombie outbreak. This being the city however means that the structures are literally teeming with the undead.

Fortunately, you’ll have new weapons to help you out this time around along with new characters. An interesting new game mode has you defending your base against waves of zombies while trying to survive. You’ll also have a brand new map to explore which will contain its own side quests and missions.

State of Decay: Lifeline will also be heading to the PC so stay tuned for more information on the same. Will you be picking it up? Let us know in the comments.