State of Decay 2 reaches two million players

Microsoft today announced that State of Decay 2, their third-person zombie shooter, has reached two million players. The game, which released on May 22, 2018 on Xbox One and Microsoft Windows, is the sequel to 2013’s State of Decay and appears to have captured a sizeable fanbase already, despite mixed reviews.

A story on news.xbox.com confirmed the impressive playing numbers to date and thanked gamers for flocking to State of Decay 2. “On behalf of the team here and our incredibly talented partners at Undead Labs, we want to thank the millions of fans old and new who have helped build such a strong community of players united in the fight for survival,” a statement on the website said.

Microsoft also compiled some interesting stats for the game to date. Apparently, players of the game have now eliminated a grand total of 2 billion zombies. They have also flocked together on the servers to “complete over 121,000 community stories and start brand new communities.”

The idea of players working together is key in State of Decay 2. The game is set in an America facing up to a zombie outbreak that will ultimately overrun the entire nation. In order to survive gamers are encouraged to build communities that can withstand the zombie threat and to engage in storylines generated within an open world that encourages exploration.

Some of the mixed reviews of the game were due to a number of bugs that were reported on launch. Microsoft emphasised how hard their team had worked to bring “key fixes” into the game as well as “gameplay tune-ups, and quality of life improvements.”

They also promised “further content updates and downloadable content in the future.” Given the number of players who are already engaging in the State of Decay 2 world it makes sense that Microsoft are keen to support the game and to continue enlivening it with updates.

The overwhelming success of Grand Theft Auto online has pioneered a new model for AAA games – healthy initial sales followed by sustained online community play. Microsoft are clearly pleased that State of Decay 2 appears to be moving in this direction and will hope to sustain its success.