Xbox's Undead Labs Opens New Studio in Orlando, State of Decay 3 to Use Unreal Engine 5 - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 02 January 2022 / 10,055 Views
Microsoft at E3 2018 announced it had acquired Undead Labs and multiple other studios. Undead Labs in summer 2020 would announce State of Decay 3 for the Xbox Series X|S and PC.
Undead Labs Animation Directo Simon Sherr via LinkedIn has revealed the studio is opening a new studio based in Orlando, Florida and that State of Decay 3 will be built using Unreal Engine 5.
"Developing a new Microsoft studio under Undead Labs in Orlando, [Florida]," reads Sherr's LinkedIn page. "Directing animation and Animation Technology in [Unreal Engine 5] for Microsoft [Xbox Game Studios] Undead Labs' State of Decay 3 and fostering cross-studio animation technology collaboration and animation technology initiatives across [Xbox Game Studios]."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Take that haters who say Microsoft should organically grow studios rather than buy existing ones!
Good news, increasing teams is welcome.
I was playing State of Decay 2 when this article popped up. Synergy. :)
Orlando, animation, UE5...perhaps this studio will specialize in real time performance capture for Microsoft's games?
How does the Tweeter know that they're building a "support" studio? Based on the info presented, there's no way to know whether they're going to work on a game of their own or provide support.
It does specifically state that the studio will be directing animation in UE5 for State of Decay 3, so not within the most likely realm of possibilities.
There's a comma in there that leaves room for the clauses to be unrelated. The guy is building a new studio. The guy is directing animation. It does not necessarily follow that the new studio is directing animation.
I will grant that you're probably right though. It is more likely that those things are related than not.
On my first reading, I got that there is a new studio being built, and that this guy is involved both in the new studio being built and in providing animation support across studios.
It is definitely possible that the new studio is not part of the animation support stuff. But, after reading the comments here and rereading LinkedIn post, I think you are probably correct.
