Six years after its reveal trailer and two years since anyone heard anything concrete about it, State of Decay 3 has resurfaced with actual news. Undead Labs announced this week that alpha playtests will begin in May, with signups now open at the official State of Decay website.
Franchise co-creator Brant Fitzgerald released an announcement video alongside the news, keeping details deliberately sparse. “I’m not going to spoil the surprise for you,” he said, “but I can say that it will feature four-player co-op, some new base-building and resource strategies, and a whole lot of combat.” The alpha will be limited in scope, with Undead Labs noting that not everyone who registers will get in for the first wave, but that additional playtest opportunities will follow throughout the year.
The game is confirmed for Xbox Series consoles and PC via Steam and the Microsoft Store. Whether the alpha is available on both platforms simultaneously hasn’t been clarified yet, though that should become clear as the May start approaches. Given the number of Xbox-published games that have quietly disappeared over the past few years, the state of State of Decay 3 was becoming a genuine open question. Kotaku notes that the project survived multiple rounds of Microsoft portfolio cuts that claimed other titles entirely, which at minimum suggests Undead Labs has something worthwhile to show.
Based on the pacing of a first limited alpha in May, a full launch in 2026 seems unlikely. A bigger reveal at Xbox’s June showcase is probably a reasonable expectation at this point. For now, it’s just good to have confirmation that the lights are still on.
Signups are live at playtest.stateofdecay.com.