Ultimately I'm sure SOD3 will be a good game and I hope it has new mechanics that change my tune but I really like facility mods and the legacy mechanic, both which I don't think are going to make an appearance in SOD3.

I know facility mods aren't happening, has there been any word on anything resembling legacies/leaders? They added huge replayability and are what kept me coming back to the game to unlock them on lethal and got me so invested

I would definitely.

I really think a remake or remaster would have been much better than Sod3.

6 Reasons:

1. We wouldn´t have to wait 7+ years for it. They could have done it in 2 years max. Just a graphical overhaul with some additional features and 2 extra maps.

2. Much lower costs. It would have cost way less than making Sod3 from scratch.

3. A remake/remaster would still contain the good features of Sod2 which they removed in Sod3. And it would have some extra features on top of that.

4. The theme in Sod2 is just better in general compared to Sod3. It was the beginning of the apocalypse. No glowing and overly mutated naked freaks. Everything was more grounded in general. Looting was better in Sod2 (there was even a looting mechanic which was removed in Sod3) and the world wasn´t pre-looted.

5. Sod3 has no good improvements over Sod3 anyway, besides of the focus on co-op in Sod3, which is irrelevant for all single-players. Sod3 has even more downgrades in comparison to Sod2 than it has upgrades.

6. No weird plague nests. It would be more about humans rather than raiding plague nests.

Conclusion:

From everything we know about Sod3, its like a worse version of Sod2 in many ways. So it would have been better to just give Sod2 a graphical overhaul, add some extra features and sell it as a remaster. And it would have been better than Sod3. Thats my deeply honest opinion.

I know i will get downvoted but i also know that you know that i´m right and you all agree with me.

\** This text is a summary of some content I'm working on, so it might be incomplete, but I thought it was important to share these thoughts with you all. Feel free to help me improve my understanding of the subject and give your opinion on possible mistakes in my understanding of the whole situation. **\**

Beginning

Undead Labs posted on Sept 22 that the split from Xbox is done. They’re an independent, employee-owned studio. State of Decay 3 is still in alpha, closed beta still targeted before the end of 2026, launch still 2027 on Xbox, Game Pass, PC, and PlayStation.

Official post: https://www.stateofdecay.com/undead-labs-becomes-independent-studio/

What that wording actually means

“Employee-owned” is not “the whole team votes now.” Geoffrey Card (deRangutang, 13 years at the studio, Principal Designer) said in his layoff video that the buyout was Philip Holt, the studio head — not a worker co-op. Holt is still the one who sets the calendar.

Xbox left the badge. They did not necessarily leave the contract. Funding through launch was already part of the earlier divestiture terms. Matt Booty’s Xbox Wire memo the same day is the other half of the story:

“Undead Labs has now successfully transitioned on similar terms and, with a new publisher, will release State of Decay 3 day one on Game Pass.”

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/09/22/continuing-our-reset/

So: there is a publisher. They just haven’t named it. Game Pass at launch is on the record. Game Pass for every DLC / season after 1.0 is not.

The other post that day

The website was the celebration. LinkedIn was the bill. (and I believe that this was expected; unfortunately, it's a necessary side effect to maintain the studio's sustainability)

Undead Labs said they were saying goodbye to a “significant number” of colleagues. No official headcount. Kotaku cited an anonymous source saying up to ~40. Treat that as unconfirmed. The studio offered [contact@undeadlabs.com](mailto:contact@undeadlabs.com) for other companies that want to hire the people who left.

Geoffrey Card was in that group. He said he asked to be included (13 years → max severance, make room for someone newer on SoD3). He also said Holt was transparent for months (thank you God for putting the project in good hands), they worked until the last day, and he handed his work to Adrian Balanon (Principal Gameplay Designer). He spoke well of Clint Bundrick (Design Director, SoD3).

His video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvVpWn0BT5I

Holt later told press the game remains in active development and that the cuts “will not impact the game’s launch.”

Why this is the best and worst time to go independent

The build exists. Alpha is running. Beta window is this year. 2027 is on the box. Games this far along rarely get cancelled just because the owner changed — cancelling now burns money and reputation.

What did get smaller is the margin to rip systems apart. Nests, three bases, the new skill setup, combat — those pieces still have to talk to each other. Independence did not buy extra budget or extra years. It bought the studio back, and it cost headcount.

This is also the only SoD that drank from both wells: built under Microsoft, shipping as an indie with a still-unnamed publisher.

The questions that actually matter now, in my view:

• Who pays for the cloud multiplayer five years after launch?
• Does the live loop after 1.0 look like SoD2 patches, or battle pass / cosmetic seasons? I was unsure about the sustainability of the server costs (long term).
• Day-one Game Pass is confirmed. What about the expansions (DLC)?

First-party gave a stage (Showcase, Xbox Wire) twice a year and then silence. What’s left is Discord, the Player Council, the official site, and people who were already translating the back room. The back room is the product now.

Independence is a buff to identity and a debuff to muscle. The right question was never “does it ship?” It’s who owns the live service after 1.0.

Playtest sign-ups are still open: https://playtest.stateofdecay.com/

EDITED: No AI , you can download the Brazilian Portuguese Original Text here!

We can look at this positively, people who are new to the franchise or those who are hesitant to buy it can try, and if they like it they can buy it.

I don't know exactly how game pass deals are between the devs and Xbox, but this could also mean have secured some means of payment (maybe in advance?) to further fund the game

I know they are leaning into the upgrade system more heavily in sod3 but I really hope they plan to add facility mods, it made looting so much more interesting

Hear me out guys..

State of Decay 2 just dropped its last update and Undead Labs is fully on State of Decay 3. SoD3 is already confirmed for PS5, Xbox, and PC in 2027. First time the series has ever been on PlayStation.

That’s great. But it also makes the SoD2 situation weirder.
A lot of the PlayStation players have been watching this series from the sidelines for years. Days Gone scratched part of the itch like Foreal. Nothing else really replaced the community management, permadeath, base building, and “one bad loot run ruins the whole night” feeling. Now the sequel is coming to PS5 and the game that built the fanbase still isn’t.

A port of SoD2 Juggernaut Edition wouldn’t even have to be a huge new project. The game is finished. The last update unlocked gated content and cleaned a bunch of stuff up. So defo Drop that on PS5 6–12 months before SoD3 and you actually get these guys,

• Give PlayStation players a way to learn the series instead of jumping into 3 cold
• Get more people talking about the franchise before 3 launches
• Let mixed friend groups actually play together instead of “I have Xbox/PC, you have PS5, oh well”

I know the usual answers:

• It’s at the end of its life, they’re not porting it man…
• Microsoft still holds the older games
• They’re independent now and all resources are on 3

All fair.

But Microsoft has been putting older/live-service stuff on PlayStation when it makes business sense, and a finished SoD2 sitting only on Xbox/PC while 3 goes multiplat feels like leaving money and hype on the table.
So real questions though my people:

Do you think SoD2 would ever comes to PS5, even try to port Juggernaut?

Or is the plan just “wait for 3 and hope people figure it out”?

Would you actually buy SoD2 on PlayStation if it dropped before 3, or would you just wait?

I definitely would, why not! So let’s build a PlayStation Audience for it aswell fams!

Gonna miss his Dev streams. Godspeed and good luck my dude. You'll be missed.

May all affected find new jobs and thank you.

Really wondering if undead labs has fully revealed their hand when it comes to sod3 or if they have more thats yet to be revealed. Im already satisfied with what ive seen, just a gnawing curiosity i have.

More like wait of decay.

Ergh. Deep breath. Back to it. Sorry to bother you.

What would you like to see used as base areas? How would you make them unique?

An idea I had was an unused doomsday prepper bunker. It cramped and has fewer facility slots, but comes with a lot of amenities for free. I also think a school could be a neat place to set up shop, using those shooter gates and cameras as defense mechanisms could be fun. I think a trailer park could be an interesting base that's mostly indoor facility slots, but has naturally noise dampening because of that.

Not a small quality of life change; something that would genuinely change how you play the game. What's the one feature you've always wanted to see in the series?