Undead Labs LLC is an American

video game developer A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with em ...

based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. The company was founded in November 2009 by Jeff Strain and developed the '' State of Decay'' series. In 2018, Undead Labs became part of

Microsoft Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, fo ...

(now known as Xbox Game Studios).

History

Undead Labs was founded on November 23, 2009, by Jeff Strain, with the sole focus on zombie-based games. On February 3, 2011, Undead Labs announced that they were partnering with

Microsoft Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, fo ...

to publish their games on the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

and now also the

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

. This decision was made after most of the other publishers who showed interest in their games were requesting what they described as "''

World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a 2004 massively multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Windows and Mac OS X. Set in the '' Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of War ...

'' clones". The first game '' State of Decay'' was released on the Xbox 360 on June 5, 2013, and on

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

on November 5, 2013. On January 11, 2014, it was announced that Undead Labs has signed a multi-year, multi-title agreement with Microsoft Studios. Jeff Strain stated that the first State of Decay was "just the start of (Undead Labs') long-term ambitions", and spoke of many future titles potentially entering the franchise. ''Moonrise'' was shut down at the end of 2015. At E3 2018, Microsoft announced they had entered into an agreement to acquire Undead Labs into

. In 2020, the studio announced their next title '' State of Decay 3'' for Xbox Series X/S and PC. In July 2021 Undead Labs opened a second studio in Orlando, Florida focused on developing animation technology in ''

Unreal Engine 5 Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) is the latest version of Unreal Engine developed by Epic Games. It was revealed in May 2020 and officially released in April 2022. Unreal Engine 5 includes multiple upgrades and new features, including Nanite, a system that ...

'' for Undead Labs as well as for other studios under the Xbox Game Studios banner. Strain left the company by October 2021 and founded another studio, Possibility Space. Undead Labs logo

A 2022 investigation by

Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...

reported on a sexist studio culture, which was abetted by Philip Holt, the new studio head who replaced Strain, and then-head of HR Anne Schlosser. Schlosser was removed after a Microsoft HR investigation. The toxic work environment, which continued after Schlosser's departure, led to a high employee turnover rate, especially among experienced staff. These issues, combined with a lack of design vision, contributed to extensive delays in the development of '' State of Decay 3''. Employees also blamed Microsoft for not living up to its goals of

diversity, equity, and inclusion In the United States, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are organizational frameworks that seek to promote the fair treatment and full participation of all people, particularly groups who have historically been underrepresented or subject ...

by not responding to reports of abuse in a timely manner. On June 9, 2024, Undead Labs was rebranded with a new logo and website following the Xbox Showcase, where the company showed its first gameplay trailer for ''State of Decay 3''.

Games developed

Cancelled

References

External links

* {{Xbox Game Studios 2009 establishments in Washington (state) 2018 mergers and acquisitions American companies established in 2009 First-party video game developers Microsoft subsidiaries Software companies based in Seattle Video game companies established in 2009 Video game companies of the United States Video game development companies Xbox Game Studios