State of Decay 3: Reports indicate problems in game development

A long report published by Kotaku revealed that the development of state of decay 3 I faced many difficulties. Internal reports indicate that the studio in charge, Undead Labs, has management and patriarchal issues.

Development of the game began at the end of 2018. And in June of that year, Microsoft announced the purchase of the studio. The title was officially announced in 2020, but the developers thought it was too early, and at that point Undead Labs “didn’t even know what the game would be like.”

source: Youtube

The report also talks about the manliness and failures of the studio’s human resources department. Reports indicate cases of developers being completely ignored or blamed during meetings, as well as having sexist statements heard. Although the rules of etiquette were established, the problems were not solved.

“We were afraid that they [Microsoft] He will come and change our culture,” says one of the accounts. But our collapse was due to internal causes and we could have received help [da Microsoft]. “

source: Youtube

An unpopular change within the development team was the studio head change. Jeff Strain, one of the founders, led Undead Labs in 2018 and insisted they would remain independent. The announcement of the purchase came as a surprise to most of the development team, but Strain remains very popular, and is known for his inspiring speeches.

Officially, he didn’t leave the studio until the end of 2019, but he was already absent from his work routine before that. In 2020, Strain was replaced by Philip Holt, who previously worked at ArenaNet, as head of the studio. This change caused problems, as did the alleged incompetence of the new head of human resources, Anne Schlosser.

source: Youtube

In the middle of 2021, after many public complaints, Microsoft decided to take action. Schlosser quit his job in September, but that didn’t stop many others from leaving Undead Labs.

Holt plans for indoor demonstrations of state of decay 3 Causing problems and the lack of guidance prompted employees to demand a change in plans. Currently, part of the developers consider that the problems have already been resolved, but another part remains skeptical about the future of the project.

In response to the report, Holt said:

[…] The culture of our past is not an example of who we are today, or what we want to be. […] We already see that the shift in our culture creates a better working environment for the team, which leads to better games for our community. […].