• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

State of Decay 3 is still in pre-production

Varteras

Gold Member
The inofficial version is that MS bought AB mostly because of the mobile division and because the price tumbled after the sexual harassment allegations.
Not only that but Activision is a very big live-service game company. Which is something Microsoft didn't really have much of. Their profile in that area was honestly pretty small overall. If the acquisition goes through next year it will tremendously boost their presence in that area of the market. They'll just need to do a lot of house cleaning and refocusing since some parts of that company, like Blizzard, are a mess.
 

legacy24

Member
MS's hands off approach to their studios is biting them in their ass, people are lazy in nature and need to be pushed by upper management to get them working. Mojang can't even bother have Minecraft running higher than 1080p on the series consoles.
 

Hezekiah

Banned
Same can be said with these ones:
Everwild
Fable
Forza Motorsport
Indiana Jones
Hellblade 2

Out of these 8 games the only one I see getting released before 2024 is Forza Motorsport, that I see its release as their big H2 2023 game, being their main H1 2023 one Starfield.
Oh year I forgot about Fable, that definitely another to add to the list - maybe 2024?

Everwild is in development hell. Pre-production began in 2016, so it's wild that Rare are so far off from having a release.

I think Forza might come out before the end of the year, and of course plenty of extra content will be added to it. I'm much more looking forward to that than Forza Horizon which just feels unstructured, and frankly I was bored after a couple of hours.

I think what it means in the meantime is that MS will carry on paying for big name third-party titles which haven't sold that well for GamePass, similar to Guardians of the Galaxy.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
Publisher of the year 2021. Most of those games were on Gamepass.

The evidence on ground doesn’t support your hypothesis.




You…think MS paid $70bn for Activision because Initiative and Undead Labs games might be experiencing delays ? 😂


LOL! Nah. But I do think they purchased them for more reasons than just to have content on GamePass.
 

Papacheeks

Banned
LOL! Nah. But I do think they purchased them for more reasons than just to have content on GamePass.

My point still stands that content in general is king. And for gamepass to grow you need big brands which internally MS doesn't have with they way they floundered Gears, Halo.
 

Krappadizzle

Gold Member
But even Bethesda's first game isn't out until November - I'm certain Redfall will be delayed.

But I agree they would be shelling out even more on GamePass day ones.
They'll get Arkane's next 2 games, and we all know i.d. has something great cooking. Bethesda's purchase was extremely smart for them. Starfield is gonna sell gangbusters if it can remotely give the value that Fallout 4 and Skyrim have given.
 

Ezekiel_

Banned
Take your time.
No need to rush.
State of Decay 2 is on a subscription service, just ride it out, pay your students loans.
 

Hezekiah

Banned
They'll get Arkane's next 2 games, and we all know i.d. has something great cooking. Bethesda's purchase was extremely smart for them. Starfield is gonna sell gangbusters if it can remotely give the value that Fallout 4 and Skyrim have given.
Maybe it will sell well on PC where more gamers are reluctant to sub. On Xbox I expect most gamers will play via GamePass.
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
This article has been posted all over the internet. OP is the only one who got the understanding it’s still in "pre-production".

So nothing to see here.
Let me assist you

"one former developer told Kotaku. Another felt State of Decay 3 could still be stuck in pre-production for a year or more. “They’re still at square one with a lot of stuff.”

Sipping Tea Time GIF
 
Double fine is an already proven studio with a giant track record. And Psychonauts 2 was already in development way before MS purchase. None of the those developers need help, well besides Playground who is having issues with Fable it seems.
But it also is their first non-car game.

Keep damage controlling you just make everyone look more like the clowns you are.
Double Fine literally said they needed help and that certain bosses wouldn't be in the game without that sweet Microsoft money. So feel free to put on those clown shoes :messenger_smiling:
 

Papacheeks

Banned
Double Fine literally said they needed help and that certain bosses wouldn't be in the game without that sweet Microsoft money. So feel free to put on those clown shoes :messenger_smiling:

So a kickstarter game got more money? How does that equate to a studio that is mismanaged? Because they were independent at the time making a large game that just needed more money? Where is MS COMING in and replacing talent, and the studio culture which was there and had made multiple games?

Please I’m dying to see your uneducated answer……



Well, I mean, nothing is really harder. We were very careful ’cause it wasn’t our goal to get acquired; we’re very fiercely independent,” Schafer told Stevivor as part of a larger conversation.

“But the way that Xbox has been acquiring studios is what they call ‘limited integration’,” he continued. “I was asking, it seems, like dumb questions, but they were important. Like, ‘do we have to change our email accounts to be at Tim at Microsoft or not?’ – not that I would ever get that – or ‘do we have to put a logo in our lobby, like a big Windows logo?’

And they were like, ‘no. No, you keep everything about your company, you still run it the way you ran it all these years. But we provide the money instead of you going out and beating the bushes to find it.'”

The freedom to stop worrying about what Schafer jokingly called “all the terrifying financial matters” meant he could better spend his time elsewhere.

“You know that that’s there and checking that big thing off your list is like, ‘[now] what do I do with 50% of my mental time now?’ and then the answer is, think about the game,” he said. “Think about creative things instead of thinking about how you’re gonna run out of money in three months.”

Microsoft] asked us what we would do if we weren’t constrained by things like finances and stuff, and one of those like, well, we just finish the game properly with the right amount of polish and also take the time to add back in things that we had to cut, like our boss fights and things like that,” Schafer said.


Yea that sounds the same as a bunch of studios they oversee that all had issues internally and took Microsoft to see the games shape to be put into panic mode.

Double fine having financial issues is not the same as a studio that had all its games development funded by Microsoft exclusivity for Microsoft. To then be bought and even though their titles both showed signs the studio needed not only talent but possible re-managed to be at a better place for larger more ambitious titles which was more so encouraged/pushed by Microsoft and internal management.


But please go on….
 
So a kickstarter game got more money? How does that equate to a studio that is mismanaged? Because they were independent at the time making a large game that just needed more money? Where is MS COMING in and replacing talent, and the studio culture which was there and had made multiple games?

Please I’m dying to see your uneducated answer……



Well, I mean, nothing is really harder. We were very careful ’cause it wasn’t our goal to get acquired; we’re very fiercely independent,” Schafer told Stevivor as part of a larger conversation.

“But the way that Xbox has been acquiring studios is what they call ‘limited integration’,” he continued. “I was asking, it seems, like dumb questions, but they were important. Like, ‘do we have to change our email accounts to be at Tim at Microsoft or not?’ – not that I would ever get that – or ‘do we have to put a logo in our lobby, like a big Windows logo?’

And they were like, ‘no. No, you keep everything about your company, you still run it the way you ran it all these years. But we provide the money instead of you going out and beating the bushes to find it.'”

The freedom to stop worrying about what Schafer jokingly called “all the terrifying financial matters” meant he could better spend his time elsewhere.

“You know that that’s there and checking that big thing off your list is like, ‘[now] what do I do with 50% of my mental time now?’ and then the answer is, think about the game,” he said. “Think about creative things instead of thinking about how you’re gonna run out of money in three months.”

Microsoft] asked us what we would do if we weren’t constrained by things like finances and stuff, and one of those like, well, we just finish the game properly with the right amount of polish and also take the time to add back in things that we had to cut, like our boss fights and things like that,” Schafer said.


Yea that sounds the same as a bunch of studios they oversee that all had issues internally and took Microsoft to see the games shape to be put into panic mode.

Double fine having financial issues is not the same as a studio that had all its games development funded by Microsoft exclusivity for Microsoft. To then be bought and even though their titles both showed signs the studio needed not only talent but possible re-managed to be at a better place for larger more ambitious titles which was more so encouraged/pushed by Microsoft and internal management.


But please go on….
Not sure what you're arguing. Someone asked whether the studios Microsoft bought released any games. I answered.
 

NEbeast

Member
Publisher of the year 2021. Most of those games were on Gamepass.

The evidence on ground doesn’t support your hypothesis.




You…think MS paid $70bn for Activision because Initiative and Undead Labs games might be experiencing delays ? 😂
Sorry, none of that matters. A game can be buggy/unfinished because of gamepass. That is literally what he implied.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
Sorry, none of that matters. A game can be buggy/unfinished because of gamepass. That is literally what he implied.

Their games are sold at retail, and sold on Steam. Why would they deliberately release buggy games, courting poorer reviews and weaker sales?
 

Umbasaborne

Banned
Microsofts first party slate (sans bethesda) seems like a mismanaged mess at this point, and thats coming from a green rat
 

cormack12

Gold Member
Gosh, the state of Decay at that studio.

To be fair they've still been updating SoD2 so might be organic turnover. But it's not like we've seen anything I'm game either so who knows.
 

supernova8

Banned
Am I right in thinking so far we've (still) literally only seen a CGI "cinematic reveal" thing for this game?
 
Last edited:

supernova8

Banned
Yep. Back in 2020.
State of Decay 2 came out in May 2018 so presumably they were working on SoD3 at least since sometime in 2018, right (assuming only some of them were working on updates, patches etc.)?
That gives us 5 years, which conveniently is also the gap between the first game (released in 2013) and the sequel.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
State of Decay 2 came out in May 2018 so presumably they were working on SoD3 at least since sometime in 2018, right (assuming only some of them were working on updates, patches etc.)?
That gives us 5 years, which conveniently is also the gap between the first game (released in 2013) and the sequel.
Yes, but as the OP in this thread says, the game was still in pre-production 13 months ago with no signs of going into full production.

So the 5-year period of State of Decay 2 may not be directly comparable in this scenario. SoD 3 will most likely take longer to release (~2025), if it ever does.
 
Last edited:

Chukhopops

Member
Didn't want to create another thread, so just adding the following to this one.

It seems like more people have left the studio, which may or may not delay the game. Let's see if we get an update on June 11.

VoOlWQp.jpg


ius42x5.jpg
I don’t think it’s crazy that almost everyone from the original team left since it’s been 10 years now. Seems like kinda normal turnover.

I find it more suspicious that SoD 2 is still being supported to this day. I love SoD but I don’t expect to see the next one any time soon unfortunately.
 

Godot25

Banned
I find it more suspicious that SoD 2 is still being supported to this day. I love SoD but I don’t expect to see the next one any time soon unfortunately.
That's nothing strange.
Because support is not done primarily by Undead Labs but by contractor support studio. Similarly as Sea of Thieves which outsourced part of live service support to Lucid Studio.
My guess is that Undead is experimenting with features in SoD 2 to see what people like and then implementing that feedback and features into SoD 3
 
For context; that signed poster is from a little over 9 years ago.

9 years ago, my niece was 12.
Last month, she bought a round of drinks for me and my siblings at our favorite bar.

What development team has ever had the same staff after almost a decade?
 

Godot25

Banned
For context; that signed poster is from a little over 9 years ago.

9 years ago, my niece was 12.
Last month, she bought a round of drinks for me and my siblings at our favorite bar.

What development team has ever had the same staff after almost a decade?
Probably none. But since it's Microsoft people are tend to being "concerned" more :messenger_tears_of_joy::messenger_tears_of_joy:
"Janitor of Playground Games left"
GAF: "SPENCER CAN'T MANAGE HIS STUDIOS"
 

ANDS

King of Gaslighting
Between all other survival games these days. What is SoD3 is going to bring to the table?

Uhm. . .the same thing the previous two titles did that really no other title is? Maybe SOD3 just completely pivots to a single player experience, but I doubt that and expect to get a complex community builder that has learned from the lessons of SOD2, which is leagues better than SOD1 and in a wildly better place now that the game is actually finished - it definitely wasn't at launch.

So, more survival systems (hunting animals for food instead of just claiming outposts, though those will definitely exist too) and probably more engagement with resource acquisition and development, deeper community member progression systems, way better zombie types, AI and interaction with communities.

. . .I mean there are several places this franchise can go given where it has been.
 
Didn't want to create another thread, so just adding the following to this one.

It seems like more people have left the studio, which may or may not delay the game. Let's see if we get an update on June 11.

VoOlWQp.jpg


ius42x5.jpg
I know people like their Xbox doom and gloom but he was never on the state of decay 3 development team he only worked on 2 and his last gig was the last dlc that just dropped. State of decay 3 has its own lead.
 
Top Bottom