Video Games
‘Wasteland 3’ Backer Beta Starts Tomorrow
Those who backed inXile’s crowdfunding campaign for Wasteland 3 will be rewarded this week with a backer beta that starts March 17. Those who backed the game at the Early Bird ($25) or higher tiers will be receiving an email with a beta code. Those in the alpha test held last August won’t need to redeem a new key.
As you might expect, the beta isn’t the most polished (read: it contains bugs), but it does give you a taste of a couple hours of gameplay ahead of the game’s actual release this May. InXile has stressed that any of the content seen in the beta is subject to change, as well as the game not being optimised for everyone. They encourage those playing the beta to use an in-game reporting tool to let testers identify and report on any of the technical hitches they may encounter.
Wasteland 3 is due out for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam on May 19.
Overshadowing the announcement of Ninja Theory’s third entry in the Hellblade series earlier this month were reports that the developer was facing possible closure by Microsoft, alongside South of Midnight developer Compulsion Games and Double Fine. Now according to a new story by GamesBeat, another developer under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella is potentially facing closure in Undead Labs, who are currently working on State of Decay 3.
Earlier this month, new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma had announced that Microsoft was in the process of ‘resetting’ Xbox. That resulted in a report by Bloomberg during Summer Game Fest that revealed that multiple developers were negotiating with Microsoft to spin off of Xbox to avoid closing down. Now, according to the GamesBeat report, Undead Labs is now part of that group of developers negotiating to be bought to avoid layoffs.
The article states that Undead Labs could lose 110 jobs if it were shut down, while Compulsion could lose 90 jobs, Ninja Theory could lose 135 jobs, and Double Fine Productions could lose 100 jobs.
Other developers and publishers at Microsoft also reportedly face cuts, including Blizzard, id Software and Bethesda.
Undead Labs was acquired by Microsoft back in 2018, with State of Decay 3 being announced in 2020. News on the development of the game was quiet until 2024, when a new trailer was released. Updates on the game again were hard to come by until last January when then-Xbox Game Studios lead Craig Duncan revealed that development was still very much alive. That was followed up this month with an official announcement that State of Decay 3 would be coming next year to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam and Microsoft Store.