As you probably already know, State of Decay 3 developer Undead Labs is officially no longer part of Xbox Game Studios, with the company having transitioned to becoming an independent studio in recent weeks.

Nevertheless, State of Decay 3 is still launching into Xbox Game Pass as a "day one" title in 2027, and the folks over at Game File recently caught up with studio boss Philip Holt to ask why they're still keen to release on Xbox's service.

The answer is that State of Decay 2 has been extremely successful on Game Pass over the years, and they reckon that the significant playerbase they've attracted from the service can only be a beneficial thing for SOD 3 as well.

“I don’t know that we’d be in the place we are today if not for the Game Pass audience. Even today, we have several thousand people coming through the door every day. The benefit of State of Decay is that it’s a very retentive game. Last time I looked, something like half of our monthly active users have been in the game for close to two years, and a quarter for more than five. A lot of players from Game Pass come in and they’re like ‘this isn’t for me’ and leave. There is a high churn rate. But of the players we capture, we capture for a long time. And then they become franchise fans and consume other titles, and they’re excited for State of Decay 3. It’s really helped us achieve scale."

"How do we make the most of that for State of Decay 3? Our biggest investment by far is the four-player co-op shared world, so a large audience that comes through Game Pass becomes a huge benefit. They play State of Decay 3, it is a great experience with friends, they invite their friends, and many of them will be on other platforms. It is a vector of growth for us."

There's a whole lot more in the interview about how Undead Labs "saved itself" amidst the transition of leaving Xbox, including how they're working with three co-development teams and how the game hasn't required a "radical rescope".

That said, it's certainly been very challenging times for the company as of late, and Holt admits that it was "total heartbreak" to say goodbye to a number of employees last month.

Despite all the turbulence with going indepdenent, it's at least reassuring to hear that State of Decay 3 remains on schedule for a release in 2027, and we're crossing our fingers that it's both a critical and commercial success next year.