Friday, September 21st 2018
Telltale Games Enters Majority Closure, Walking Dead Finale Reportedly Cancelled
In what will likely hit more than a few PC gamers hard, Telltale Games- the studio behind The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, Tales From The Borderlands and more- will be closing. The studio currently maintains only a skeleton crew of 25 out of what once was an estimated 250 employees at peak. Sadly, the employees that were let go received no severance pay, while those remaining have been tasked with completing a single final project. Reports as to the final project are conflicting, but it appears to be the Minecraft Story Mode project for Netflix. Either way, it is the studio's last gasp as it attempts to fulfill various obligations. Meanwhile, projects like The Walking Dead final season, The Wolf Among Us 2 and others have been outright canceled.
With the whirlwind of activity surrounding the closure is still ongoing, the hashtag #TelltaleJobs on Twitter has currently begun to take off with offers from various studios letting former Telltale staff know they should apply. These studios include, but are not limited to ZeniMax Online Studios, Sony Santa Monica, PUBG corp, Gearbox and many more. While Telltale Games have been experiencing some troubles over the last year or so, its closing was still unexpected. More pressing is, what happens next for those that purchased the entire final season of The Walking Dead- with only one episode out, there is no word yet on what will happen to those that purchased it.
Update:One of the major reasons behind the closure can likely be traced to falling sales, likely leaving the company in a tough position.
Sources:
US Gamer, Twitter, Reddit
With the whirlwind of activity surrounding the closure is still ongoing, the hashtag #TelltaleJobs on Twitter has currently begun to take off with offers from various studios letting former Telltale staff know they should apply. These studios include, but are not limited to ZeniMax Online Studios, Sony Santa Monica, PUBG corp, Gearbox and many more. While Telltale Games have been experiencing some troubles over the last year or so, its closing was still unexpected. More pressing is, what happens next for those that purchased the entire final season of The Walking Dead- with only one episode out, there is no word yet on what will happen to those that purchased it.
Update:One of the major reasons behind the closure can likely be traced to falling sales, likely leaving the company in a tough position.
64 Comments on Telltale Games Enters Majority Closure, Walking Dead Finale Reportedly Cancelled
September 14, 2017: Former Zynga VP of games Pete Hawley named CEO of Telltale Games
November 7, 2017: Telltale Games lays off 90 employees
March 20, 2018: Toxic management cost an award-winning game studio its best developers
June 13, 2018: Exclusive: Netflix to bring Minecraft: Story Mode to service - but not traditional games
June 15, 2018: Former CEO and co-founder sues Telltale Games
September 21, 2018: Narrative Adventure Studio Telltale Games Essentially Closes Down
Canceled games in production:
-The Wolf Among Us: Season Two
-Game of Thrones: Season Two
-the untitled Stranger Things game
-The Walking Dead: The Final Season
Like them or not, it's terrible for all of us who wanted Walking Dead to finish. It sucks to have 2.1 Seasons finished and just lingering in your game library. Even if they're not the greatest games, it's still a great way of telling stories. When I was young, I liked those Choose Your Own Adventure books as much as I liked games. So it's cool to have this in interactive form.
I really liked the Back To The Future game they put out. I hadn't played a point and click adventure game since the original Sam & Max and Full Throttle days. Never really my thing, but BTTF was a pretty decent game if you're a fan of the movies.
:p
You guys aren't wrong though about the poor gameplay. I'd prefer both dynamic story and gameplay.. But it's hard enough to even find that done well very often now too.
Looks like mods deleted by silly link to a Machinima vid. I considered it a good tribute. Oh well.
Good news at the end.
I dont hate on small studios though Hellblade: Senuas Sacrifice was a work of art and their video editor got the role of senua by mistake because they needed a tester.
At least one of their games, which most who know them have played is considered excellent.
Also, it was never about Lee. :P He's a convict with a death sentence. The game makes that abundantly clear from the first few minutes.
In any case, I kind of see TellTale like Bioware games... without the RPG mechanics. Heh. So not even like old Adventure games either. If that's what "Story Adventure" is, cool.. I never heard it used before.
The last one I played was Lake Ridden, which had me hooked throughout and stumped me for hours on a couple of it’s puzzles.