'State of Decay 2' release date news: Zombie survival game to launch in May, preorders now available

Zombie survival game "State of Decay 2" will no longer remain in its seemingly dormant state of development, as the developers of the game have announced its release date.

Developer Undead Labs and publisher Microsoft Studios have revealed that "State of Decay 2" will be released for the Xbox One and the PC come May 22. This time around "State of Decay 2" promises a much bigger zombie survival story with an invasion unlike any the players have ever seen before in the history of zombies in media.

Xbox owners who are lucky enough to have an Xbox Play Anywhere and Xbox Game Pass promo will be able to access the game immediately upon release. The game's standard editions will be priced at $30 while a more generous ultimate edition will cost $50 and will come with the $30 base game with the addition of passes for two add-on packs: "Independence" and "Daybreak," which will be available on their respective release dates. The ultimate edition also lets players access the game four days ahead of the release.

Both versions are now available for preorder, which is recommended for fans of the game since preordering either version before May 21 will give them access to special items otherwise unobtainable through post-release purchases. With this and the game's upcoming release, the game executives are confident that "State of Decay 2" will become a successful title and they intend to make it so.

Apart from the single-player campaign, the game will also have a four-player cooperative (co-op) aspect in which players can invite their friends or random online strangers to see how they can fare as a group in a zombie-filled post-apocalypse.

"Our goal is to build a long-term relationship with the 'State of Decay' community and to foster deeper experiences with the franchise," says Aaron Greenberg, general manager of games marketing at Microsoft. Regardless, "State of Decay 2" has gone gold and is likely one of the most highly anticipated zombie or survival games of 2018.