Earlier this year, it looked like time was up for ZRX: Zombies, Run!, a popular fitness app that mixed couch-to-5K plans with postapocalyptic audio storytelling. Now, cocreator and author Naomi Alderman has announced that she’s bought back the franchise from the brink.
Zombies, Run! was first founded in 2012 with about 10 million users worldwide. The app, made by Six to Start, immerses runners and walkers in an episode-based storyline where the undead “chase” users. Despite the expensive and time-intensive process, the company was successful enough to make other immersive fitness games, including Marvel Move. Six to Start was bought by OliveX in 2021.
In March 2025, OliveX laid off all but two Six to Start staff members, noting that the game would be shut down if a buyer could not be found. At the time, sources told The Verge that the Six to Start staff clashed with OliveX and its owner, Animoca Brands, over the games’ anticapitalist themes and the latter’s attempts to create crypto and NFT projects. Later, Six to Start alerted users that the Zombies, Run! app, archive, and message boards would remain available, but that future episodes were paused, leaving the app’s future in limbo.
“I am incredibly delighted to be taking ownership of the game. This isn’t a big corporate takeover, it’s me buying back the game I made and love so I can look after it,” Alderman wrote in a post on the Zombies, Run! website. Alderman also confirmed the news in a Bluesky post.
“We’re working on a new story for Zombies, Run!, which I’m intending to be a great ‘on-ramp’ for new players or people who want to come back to the game after a break,” Alderman tells The Verge. “We’ll also resume production on Season 11, which was paused halfway through — a very long cliffhanger to wait through!”
Alderman clarified that she hasn’t bought Six to Start. Rather, she’s bought the Zombies, Run! franchise, along with The Walk — another immersive fitness game Alderman created with Six to Start. She also confirmed that Marvel Move had already been in the process of sunsetting, but that the app will be supported until the last annual subscription ends in July next year.
Alderman says that her main focus going forward will be preserving the app and experience, noting that she’ll be reaching out to the community soon with more news. “Zombies, Run! has been a community effort since the first Kickstarter, and we’ll keep it shambling on together.”