Philip Holt won't put a number on the layoffs that came with Undead Labs' exit from Xbox. The studio head called the separations a "total heartbreak" in remarks to The Game Business and told GamesIndustry.biz he would hate to reduce those individuals to a statistic.

The transition created Full Measure as the new corporate vehicle, turning remaining staff into shareholders while State of Decay 3 development continues toward its 2027 target. Holt described prior transparency with the team as "irresponsibly transparent," noting conversations about potential job losses happened early enough that the day of the cuts arrived with some preparation already in place.

Other Xbox-adjacent studios followed similar paths—Double Fine and Compulsion Games also went independent—but exact headcount figures remain undisclosed across the board. The broader restructuring eliminated 3,200 roles industry-wide earlier this year.

Holt framed the move as a management-led buyout that Microsoft accepted, leaving the surviving team viewing the changes as a necessary consequence rather than damage inflicted by leadership.