To the surprise of gamers, Undead Labs has announced that their open-world zombie game State of Decay 2 is going to be available on Steam. Sometime in early 2020, SoD2 will launch on Steam. Pre-orders aren’t live yet but you can wishlist the game on its store page here.
Undead Labs landed a surprise hit last generation with the first State of Decay when it came out on both the Xbox 360 and PC. The mix of open-world zombie survival, base building, and permadeath characters proved a winning formula for the genre that has gotten a bit long in the teeth. The PC version launched on Steam, as Microsoft hadn’t then established its own Microsoft Store as the premier place for first-party releases. Things changed a lot since the first game, with Microsoft heavily focusing on keeping their own games exclusive on their own digital store for PCs after the arrival of Windows 10.
At Undead Labs, we are dedicated to serving a passionate community of fans and are continuously listening to feedback, and our goal is to always be a fan-first studio. One of the top requests we get is to bring State of Decay 2 to Steam. Today, the team is happy to announce that State of Decay 2 is coming to Steam in early 2020 for all of our fans to enjoy!
Fast-forward a few years more and Microsoft has once again changed their stance on store exclusivity. Especially after Phil Spencer took over the Xbox division. These days, we are once again witnessing the return of Microsoft/Xbox titles making an appearance on Steam. This year alone Gears 5 and Age of Empires II Definitive Edition launched there, with Halo: The Masterchief Collection coming out next month.
One thing PC gamers were especially hopeful about since these last policy changes were that those few titles that only came out for the Microsoft Store would be ported over to Steam. Quantum Break and Rise of the Tomb Raider already made the jump to Valve’s store but with State of Decay 2 the flood gates might soon open for other Windows Store exclusives to make their way to Steam. Forza Horizon 4, Sea of Thieves and Minecraft and many more are still only available on the Microsoft Store.
