State of Decay 3 is the long anticipated sequel to the cult classic State of Decay 2 which released all the way back in 2018. The second game in the series surpassed 10 million total players back in 2021, and fans have been eagerly awaiting a third entry for many years.
State of Decay 3 was announced in 2020 and was clearly in its early stages as we only saw a short CGI trailer. Developers Undead Labs went quiet for many years and finally reappeared last year during Xbox’s annual summer show. No release date was provided, begging the question of when the game is actually coming out. While we don’t know exactly when the game will be released, we can use context clues to figure out a rough estimate for a release window.
Returning to the Apocalypse
State of Decay 3 was announced in 2020 and did not show back up in the public eye until 2024. Our first true glimpse at the game showed the actual game engine as well as snippets of gameplay. This is a good sign that the games development is going well and could indicate a release is coming sooner rather than later.
Industry insider Jez Corden noted on his Xbox Two podcast that Microsoft was initially considering launching the game in 2025, but said the game will probably instead launch in 2026. Add to this that most AAA games take anywhere from 4 to 6 years to develop today, it seems likely that State of Decay 3 will launch sometime in 2026. It’s possible the game releases later, but that doesn’t seem too likely right now.
