State of Decay 3 studio Undead Labs lay off "a significant number" of "exceptionally talented developers" after gaining independence from Xbox

"These are people we'd hire again in a heartbeat"

Less than 24 hours after confirming they've managed to secure a future outside of Xbox by going independent, State of Decay 3 studio Undead Labs have announced that they've had to lay off "a significant number" of staff as part of that transition. The news follows a second round of mass layoffs this year at the studios still under Microsoft's thumb. Undead Labs were one of the five studios Microsoft announced plans to split with during an initial round of layoffs in July.

Today, we announced that Undead Labs is becoming an independent, employee-owned studio," the State of Decay developers wrote in a LinkedIn post. "Our focus going forward is simple: making the best games we can and earning the continued support of the people who choose to spend their time with us. Unfortunately, today we are also saying goodbye to a significant number of our colleagues. It's difficult to reach this moment knowing that not everyone who helped get us here gets to make the rest of the journey with us.

"They are exceptionally talented developers who have poured years into the State of Decay franchise: solving hard problems, looking after one another, and helping shape both this game and this studio. Their work remains part of Undead Labs and part of State of Decay 3, regardless of where their careers take them next."

Undead Labs noted that they "hate adding" to the never-ending slew of layoffs happening regularly across the games industry in recent years and offered to put other studios looking for staff in touch with the departing devs, whom they described as "people [they'd] hire again in a heartbeat".

These cuts mirror the sorts of measures the other studios who've gone independent after Xbox opted to ditch them have been forced to take. Psychonauts developers Double Fine laid off 23 people, a quarter of their staff, in late July. Meanwhile, South of Midnight developers Compulsion Games immediately set about seeking work as a co-development or support studio, while pushing to secure the rights to all of their games.

Hellblade developers Ninja Theory haven't been so lucky and appear to be heading for closure after two deals to sell them off fell through. The future of Dishonored developers Arkane remains uncertain as of right now, with Xbox announcing yesterday that consultation over how the studio will move forward is "expected to continue through the end of the year".

Solidarity to all of the developers affected by these Undead Labs layoffs, hopefully they can quickly land on their feet.