between laborious development, sexism, toxic management and hope for a better future

Having become Xbox Game Studios since 2018, Undead Labs is widely known for its license State of Decay. The American studio is indeed at the origin of the franchise and is currently developing a new opus, State of Decay 3. But a new investigation by Kotaku shows various dysfunctions within the company in recent years. According to several testimonies, the management of the company would in particular have significant organizational difficulties while practicing ordinary sexism.

A takeover that goes wrong

There are thus twelve developers, former or current, that Kotaku could interrogate. People who testify on condition of anonymity and all present the management of Undead Labs as the cause of professional burnout. A situation that originated shortly after the release of State of Decay 2 and the acquisition by Microsoft. Because at the time, it seems that many thought that the studio would remain independent following various speeches by Jeff Strain, the founder of Undead Labs. “It was a roller coaster ride, and some of the early employees were shocked by the whiplash” thus declares a former developer. But this is, a priori, not the only fault of the leader.

After the sale of his company, Jeff Strain remains in post until the end of 2019. However, according to the testimonies collected by Kotaku, the man had already been absent for many months. Some refer to it as “absent father”, highlighting his secondment from the teams in the weeks and months before his departure. And above all, as a leader relying more than reason on his second: Philip Holt.

Recruited at the start of 2019, Holt is gradually taking over the management of the teams. It is he who ensures the succession of Strain and now occupies the head of Undead Labs. Unfortunately, the head of the studio is presented as particularly toxic. He is described as nepotistic and would thus have favored the hiring of close friends in important positions. Charges rejected by Microsoft, which notably advances the rigor of its recruitment process with Kotaku.

Undead Labs has a rigorous and standardized hiring process in place for all potential hires, with visibility and review by multiple members of the studio

Women reduced to silence

Undead Labs employees also claim that sexism was particularly present on a daily basis. Women’s opinions thus seem to have great difficulty in carrying weight during discussions and many of them could be belittled. “Men were asking women to take notes during meetings, ignoring their expertise, and even making sexist remarks like ‘You’re not as pretty as usual today’ and ‘I’m surprised a girl like you have this job.”” can we read at Kotaku. Ordinary sexism that does not allow women to flourish alongside their male colleagues.

When I interviewed at Labs, I was sold [l’idée] of a transitioning studio that was making [la diversité, l’équité et l’inclusion] an absolute priority. In reality, studio executives painted a face of diversity, equity, and inclusion for Microsoft, while women were consistently ignored, dismissed, interrupted, ignored, and blamed.

Everyday situations that several of them were able to denounce to Anne Schlosser, then responsible for human resources. But still, it seems that the speeches were not heard or that the Covid and teleworking were used as an excuse. To the point that meetings have been held at the initiative of employees in order to disseminate advice and training on the relationship between men and women at work.

The culture the studio had until recently wasn’t the most hospitable to anyone who wasn’t a white male.

Without knowing exactly why, Microsoft has however conducted various interviews within Undead Labs. These affected dozens of employees and led to the departure of Anne Schlosser. However, the latter denies any correlation between the two subjects and affirms at the microphone of Kotaku that his departure was already recorded as part of a “planned reorganization of the studio”

A long and tedious pre-production

Also according to Kotaku’s investigation, we also learn that the development of State of Decay 3 would have been extremely difficult so far. The pre-production phase would have been particularly long and trying with compartmentalized teams and a lot of change within them. Furthermore, although many ideas were at the heart of the gameplay of State of Decay 3 hardly took shape.

However, Xbox wants to present its first party games in July 2020 before the release of the Xbox Series X|S. To this end, several teams are encouraged to give a demonstration of their title in development, although this remains optional. Philip Holt nevertheless wishes to be present and would then have particularly pressed his teams. Friction arises and the developers are forced to create a trailer.

“We didn’t want to advertise the game because we didn’t even know what it was at the time” says a developer still in office. Despite this, State of Decay 3 is presented to the world. But this is not the only source of tension. The video highlights the encounter with an undead animal and then promises players interactions with fauna and flora. Except that internally, nothing is yet recorded and this idea is complex to implement.

Towards a better future?

However, some employees believe that the studio is now on the right track. One of them also specifies that the context “has improved over the past six months or so” while another strongly believes in the potential of State of Decay 3. “This could be such a cool game and we have a lot of great people working on it. I just hope we don’t repeat the terrible habits of the past few years.”

And moreover, if Philip Holt did not expressly respond to Kotaku, he wanted to speak on this subject. Through a press release from Microsoft, he shares a speech that seems to acknowledge past mistakes. He testifies there a form of recognition of the incidents mentioned by the various developers and ensures not to veil the face. But above all, he underlines how much effort has been multiplied recently. Efforts probably late but which we hope to see bear fruit very quickly.

Since our acquisition by Microsoft in 2018, Undead Labs has been focused on elevating the quality and ambition of State of Decay and increasing the diversity and inclusiveness of our studio culture. Building an inclusive and supportive environment is central to our culture’s vision, how we enable our teams to do their best work, and how we build the best games. I recognize that some of our employees, current and former, have confided that their experiences at the Labs have not always been positive.

Our past culture does not illustrate who we are now, nor what we want to become. We have seen many changes over the past few years: we have a completely new management team, including a new HR director and a new department in 2021; we have hired approximately 75 employees since the start of the pandemic; and we’ve transformed the demographics of our team. We’ve already seen that our ongoing cultural transformation creates a better place to work for the team, which leads to better games for our community. I am proud of the work we have accomplished, humbled by the task ahead of us, ready to learn from this experience and determined to do better every day.