Undead Labs leaves Xbox to become employee-owned, explains early State of Decay 3 reveal

State of Decay 3 developer Undead Labs has left Xbox Game Studios to become an independent, employee-owned studio. Studio boss Philip Holt told The Game Business that nothing went wrong, and that he proposed a management-led buyout which Microsoft accepted, since the studio was close to revenue and could raise the remaining funds for State of Decay 3 itself. He also said the game was announced back in 2020 partly to keep the project and studio on Microsoft's radar during its acquisition spree of publishers like Bethesda and Activision Blizzard, with a small team working on it since then.