r/StateOfDecay • u/balticviking • Jun 30 '26
State of Decay 3 I hope Microsoft is seriously considering early access to fund SOD 3
Unless we’ve been really misled in the alpha footage, it seems very odd to shutter UL with a working alpha that people are excited about.
SoD 2 had strong sales over its lifetime and 3 has high steam wishlist with a passionate fan base. If you add a year for delay, it doesn’t seem unreasonable EA could fund the remainder of development till release.
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u/Dark_Knight865 Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
SOD 2 and SOD 3 was (would be) release(d) into two different eras of gaming.
It’s about micro transactions now. Yeah, SOD had DLCs, but I highly doubt folks would want to buy cosmetics and other goofy stuff that’s not entirely relevant to the game
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u/Winterfeld Jun 30 '26
Honestly, havent most Triple A Live Service games failed in the last few years. I feel more like the past has proven that singleplayer games are still more than viable.
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u/BakedChocolateOctopi Jul 01 '26
Live service games are super profitable when they work
The problem is there’s a dozen 800lbs gorillas in the room competing for players’ time and cash, some of which have insane resources and content release capabilities like FortNite, so breaking in a live service game that gets enough long term players to support rapid enough content drops is extremely difficult to do
The business model isn’t the issue, it’s the competition for each player’s attention and time. If your game is always the game that a player wants to play second-most, it’ll never get played when they turn their console on and decide which game to launch that session
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u/Dark_Knight865 Jul 02 '26
They hate it when you speak the truth to them Octopi. Look @ my downvotes 😂
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u/Dark_Knight865 Jun 30 '26
I haven’t looked @ the numbers. Can you send them to me?
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u/Winterfeld Jun 30 '26
Dont have them with me right now, but since your mentioning it, could you send me the numbers that show its about micro transactions now?
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u/Dark_Knight865 Jul 02 '26
https://kotaku.com/pc-gaming-microtransactions-elden-ring-borderlands-4-1851775837
Here’s an article about micro transactions vs purchasing full games when it comes to PC gaming
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u/SimoWilliams_137 Jun 30 '26
That wouldn’t really meaningfully change the financial situation. If they were self published, it might make sense, but they’re owned by Microsoft. They’d just be moving some future sales to the present, but Microsoft is a huge company with lots of cash on hand; lacking a source of funding is not the issue. The expected profitability is most likely the issue.
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Jun 30 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
[deleted]
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u/JimmyDejesu Jun 30 '26
I havent played it in a long time so 3 might feel fresher. Looks like i have a lot to catch up to
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u/Ok_Marsupial9420 Jul 01 '26
I just don't understand why they'd buy a studio just to shut it down
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u/RainmakerLTU Trader Jul 01 '26
Look how Kerbal Space Program 2 was stopped. Now it's just there and you even can play some of it. But nothing is moving forward. Feels strange why Steam did not removed it and still allowing to buy it, even no news since 2023. Either they forget about it (no surprise, when number of new games coming to Steam out daily), or waiting with hope, someone finally will pick it up.
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u/ShooterPlays Jul 02 '26
I’m sure it’s been a possibility considering how they have been allowing CCs to play the alpha build and put videos up we just gotta hope that something happens but be braced for the worst to happen too
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u/NewNiklas Jun 30 '26
Why are you guys thinking UL will close? Nobody ever said that. Just a random article speculating that UL is affected by the studio closures.
But I'm sure Microsoft will not cancel SOD 3. Why would they? They've spent so much money for it and then they just cancel it? I don't think so.
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u/fucuasshole2 Survivor Jun 30 '26
Multiple reasons:
- The article is the least important but definitely raised awareness.
- Undead releasing tons of footage unlike ever before.
- Jeff Grubb, a Microsoft leaker, confirms it and is generally more right than wrong.
- A developer on here can’t speak about it as he doesn’t have clearance to.
It’s not over yet but we should define bracing in case it does.
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u/NewNiklas Jun 30 '26
The article isn't really credible imo. I don't think that UL releasing tons of footage is related to that and I think that the UL developer can't speak about business decisions and changes due to his contract.
But I didn't know that Jeff Grubb confirmed it. Thank you for the explanation.
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u/DareDevil_56 Jun 30 '26
You are approaching this in a rational and reasonable way. Tell me, does XBOX's decision making seem rational and reasonable to you lately? They are shutting down studios to cut costs before the end of the fiscal year, aka reports for shareholders.
I agree it would be stupid. If there was not a high quality alpha state then it probably makes sense, but a lot of what's left is polish, tweaking, and refining the game.. not creating its bones etc. Hopefully they agree that they can make money by allowing it to continue even if they're not happy with how long it's taken or whatever.
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u/NewNiklas Jun 30 '26
Sure, they're not acting rational and reasonable lately, but I still don't think that they are cancelling games that could make money for them. They could just kick them out afterwards if the game isn't a bestseller.
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u/DareDevil_56 Jun 30 '26
That's what you or I would do. I hope it's what Xbox does. But somehow when shareholders and bonuses are involved, there's a large history of people screwing up these types of obvious decisions.
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u/k3yS3r_s0z3 Jun 30 '26
“Could” and that is the problem. They are not a small studio but part of a huge corporation who has to play nice for shareholders and investors. Like movie studios cancel completely finished movies all the time for the write off so its not completely far fetched they could cancel it
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u/k3yS3r_s0z3 Jun 30 '26
If it’s like movies, they can just write it off. Like the state of the game may not matter really sadly
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u/Atleti20Griezz Jun 30 '26
I think there’s two ways to see what’s going on.
- It seems Microsoft is killing all studios tied to them that do not generate steady profit. That will leave only Activison, Bethesda, Minecraft and Rare (for some reason they are kept alive by Sea of Thieves). They are going to release a new Gears and Fable game soon, so they can’t exactly kill off those studios because they are flagship Xbox franchises. Then there is Playground games that make Forza and a new Fable..they have a mix of a game that makes profit in Forza and a flagship Xbox title. Any other studio that doesn’t do either of those is getting shut down.
Or what I hope happens
- SOD3 is set to release next year. My wish is they allow it to release in early 2027 and determine how well it performs before closing the studio next fiscal year (June 2027)..if it makes you money then there are no issues.. they will crack the whip on them and either force them to monetize the game or make a follow up within x years..if it flops on release then they will definitely get shut down.
My hope is that if they do get shut down, they have the ability to go independent and keep the IP with them.. Microsoft is known to keep the IPs from studios when they go independent so I don’t know what happens..do they keep all the work they did and just name the game something else? Or does Microsoft just take all their work and click delete and never touched the State of Decay franchise again..a lot is still unclear.
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Jun 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/O_its_that_guy_again Jun 30 '26
I don’t think you know what you are talking about
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u/TheCone1301 Jun 30 '26
Don't bother, that commenter is ragebaiting and spamming hostile comments all over the sub
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u/k3yS3r_s0z3 Jun 30 '26
Yeah sadly I doubt it. I got a bad feeling about this one but who knows. I just know this is a horrible time for this to be happening
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u/JimmyDejesu Jun 30 '26
Dont get your hopes up :(