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Overview

State of Decay 3 is an open-world zombie survival game in development at Undead Labs and published by Xbox Game Studios. The game continues the studio's signature blend of scavenging, combat, and survivor community management, with a tagline of "Together We Survive." As of May 26, 2026 the game is in pre-launch development with no confirmed release date, and the closed alpha playtest's first wave has begun rolling out invitations to selected sign-ups.

The studio has been transparent that the original 2020 reveal trailer was a pre-rendered concept piece produced before the game team was fully assembled. Co-creator Brant Fitzgerald has clarified, in announcing the May 2026 alpha, that elements such as zombie wildlife shown in the early concept will not appear in the final game.

Quick Facts

Setting and Theme

State of Decay 3 is set years after a zombie apocalypse, and the player's choices affect in-game events and the lives of survivors in their community. The world is described as picked-over and deeply scarred by the plague, with the infestation visibly evolving across structures in the form of pink, brain-like tendrils that spread throughout the environment. Survivors craft and modify their own gear from salvaged components, since clean factory weapons and fresh supplies have largely been used up in the years since the outbreak.

Headline Features

• Open-world survival on a single shared map, with multiple starting locations for different player characters.

• Four-player online co-op with untethered movement, so each player can roam the world independently.

• Rebuilt combat in Unreal Engine 5 with reactive enemy responses, dismemberment, and vehicle-based attacks.

• Permadeath survivors with new narrative reactions when a community member dies.

• Base building and resource strategy systems redesigned for the third entry.

• Cross-play between Xbox Series X|S, Steam, and Epic, with Xbox Play Anywhere support.

Xbox Game Pass day-one release on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, with no separate retail purchase required to play on subscription.

Development Partners

Undead Labs is the lead developer. The Coalition (the Gears of War studio) is consulting on Unreal Engine 5, combat, animations, and enemy AI. The shared-world and shared-save technology builds on work from Grounded, with help from Obsidian Entertainment. Co-development support is also coming from Blind Squirrel Entertainment and Wushu Studios.

Where to Start

Read the Closed Alpha Playtest page for the May 2026 sign-up details and what is being tested. For confirmed mechanics, see Gameplay Basics, Combat, Base Building, and Survivor Community. For multiplayer, see Online Co-Op and Cross-Platform Play.

Status

This article reflects publicly confirmed information as of May 14, 2026. Many systems described by Undead Labs publicly so far remain high-level, and exact numbers, recipes, and rosters will be filled in as the closed alpha and subsequent reveals confirm specifics in the playable build.

The Xbox Games Showcase scheduled for June 2026 is the next public-facing window where Undead Labs and Xbox have an opportunity to share a deeper look at the third game. Whether a State of Decay 3 segment is part of that broadcast has not been officially confirmed by Xbox at the time of this update.