It’s distressing how quickly the discussion becomes “How can I turn this into a black eye against my rival platform holder” whether or not it’s supported by the article.
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Glad things seem to be going better at UL, but it’s pretty sad things were that bad to begin with. Hope MS does another audit and continues to oversee the studio heading in the right direction.
I also hope more people speak up about Holt if he continues to dismiss issues and not grow at the same rate as the studio. Didn’t really have much of an opinion of him before, but certainly not a fan based on what’s described in the article.
Been a huge fan of UL before State of Decay was released when it was still Class3 with the MMO sequel having the Class4 codename. Whatever needs to happen, I hope the management in and outside of the studio continue working to make UL an inclusive environment for all people.
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I think every studio in the industry is currently having these issues. They are finally being rooted out at last.
As for the game, I think its on track for a 2024 launch and its good Undead are making progress.
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I think that’s what the insiders said for release date.
Ive been saying State of Decay 3 was a 2024 launch long before anybody.
In general guys game development is rarely smooth and has issues.
Don’t listen to the sensationalist media
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Wonder if Kotaku ever comes and and says “yes we really did interview people” vs. how it appears most of this came from Glassdoor reviews…
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I am pretty sure Klobrille mentioned that out of all the games announced in July 2020, SoD3 was the one furtherest out, and information from Kotaku supports that.
Because the only reason why we are getting this stuff is because XGS is far more open than Sony or Nintendo, we only hear stuff from them after a game releases or even many years later. You have Phil Spencer and other developers going to podcasts including XboxEra, you have the usual people leaking stuff from MS, fan fest events and stuff, their culture is far more open than your typical corporate setting. Grubb said in the last Kinda Funny episode that Sony punishes harshly anyone who leaks their stuff which is why its so hard to have stuff from them in the open.
If XGS was enforcing strict NDAs and closed as hell, you would never see these reports come out at the daylight or even ever. Instead imagine if you could just knock at their door and say “hey can we have a tour visit?” and chances are they can say yes.
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This is “The” Kotaku. I remember this media was once blocked by Ubisoft due to its misleading report just for higher clicks. Today’s news happened right in time when Sony plans to announce some big shits. I highly suspect they intended to do so.
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Look at the title with “Microsoft studio”. Why wouldn’t they simply use “undead labs” or “xbox studio”, which is more direct? It gives me a feeling that they are trying to set MS as a target like Activision for sexism stuff. Narratives.
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Eh theres a difference between leaking a product and speaking anonymously on working conditions.
Rarely you see from Sony or Nintendo, most of the time they come only after it ships or even years down the line.
Also lets see how it unfolds, because recently some stuff has come down to be disagreements mixed with real cases.
Hit piece or not, MS might want to start actively collecting feedback from their internal studios. Seems like they didn’t really check in on Undead until things were getting bad.
They are going to need to start being a bit more hands on especially during the Activision merge in order to make sure their workplace is actually improving.
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I mean with Activision they are aware what’s going on from the very beginning. But with UL the problem was that higher ups did not report to MS, painting a different picture. As soon as people went to direct Xbox HR, the problem started to dissolve.
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They already have… even in the piece, as much as they want to only mention it in passing, it’s because of Matt’s team that things have turned around.
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I think this stuff is important to know because it holds such places to higher standards in the eyes of the publisher, it allows people applying for jobs there to investigate a little further and see if that workplace is still a problem, and if there are still a few bad actors there is increased pressure on them to shape up or ship out.
I’m happy to see a positive trend though. This story is more of a story of a troubled past and not about a troubled present. It sounds like positive steps have been taken and are still being taken. Still, the remembrance of the troubled past is important because can shape a brighter future.
Fanboys will use this article as fodder but I’m glad to hear the things are trending better so that I can play their games. Otherwise I would avoid games from places where sexism is an issue. And before anyone asks “you would seriously not play a game because of their work environment?” I would respond with, “have you seen my backlog?!”. There’s a thousand great games to play right now and not enough time. I’ll be fine.
But yeah, I can look forward to trying out SoD3 and hopefully these positive changes lead to a fantastic game.
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Matt Booty doing his great job as usual
And I actually mean that, you…obnoxious blast of wind
Not you, Knottian…this dude 
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I would rather have an article that states “there were issues and Microsoft seemingly fixed it”, versus “there were issues and the company is trying to sweep it under the rug”.
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Then you have to write about Sony 
But Kotaku won’t do that.
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This is the article it’s just that Kotaku needs them clicks and nothing gets clicks in the gaming space like negative Xbox news with Kotaku’s usual spin.
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