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"It was a pretty harrowing three months" – Undead Labs head Philip Holt on what happened after Xbox cut the studio loose

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"It was a pretty harrowing three months" – Undead Labs head Philip Holt on what happened after Xbox cut the studio loose

The CEO explains what the new employee-owned structure looks like, why State of Decay 3 has taken so long, and how the studio is embracing co-development

Back in July, Xbox announced plans to divest five studios. Among them was State of Decay maker Undead Labs, which Microsoft had acquired back in 2018.

Undead Labs CEO Philip Holt tells GamesIndustry.biz that he had a small amount of warning before the public announcement, but it still came as a shock. It led to a "deeply unsettling" atmosphere for the employees at the studio, who dwelt on the "fear of what would happen if we all became unemployed," says Holt, as well as worrying they might not have a chance to ship State of Decay 3, a game they've been working on for years.

To take away some of the uncertainty, he made a decision to be fully transparent with Undead's employees about what was happening with the studio in the months that followed. "There was a period of time where it was a weekly update to the whole company," he says, adding that he had some "pretty direct and candid conversations" with employees. "I think it settled people down, and I think it strengthened the bonds of trust that we have with each other."

At first, there was hope of securing a buyer. "I think initially Microsoft was interested in finding an acquirer for the studio, and that could have been a great outcome for us," says Holt.



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