Telltale Games Shutting Down

[hornfan785 556]

They're going to finish The Walking Dead final season but they're cancelling everything else that was in development.

https://www.usgamer.net/articles/report-telltale-games-shutting-down-the-wolf-among-us-2-and-stranger-things-canceled

 

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Sources: Telltale Games Shutting Down, The Wolf Among Us 2 and Stranger Things Canceled

Update 2 [2:10pm]: Telltale co-founder and former Telltale CEO Kevin Bruner has posted a blog calling the layoffs at Telltale a "closure." Seemingly confirming the fate of the studio he co-founded. 

Update 1: USgamer learned from multiple anonymous sources familiar with the layoffs at Telltale that employees laid off today will not receive severance pay. 

Original Story

Telltale Games is closing its doors for good according to multiple reports online. Telltale employees are also posting on social media that they are no longer employed with the company. An anonymous source familiar with the situation has told USgamer that Telltale's closure was going to be complete. 

Telltale Games is a Bay Area-based video game company specializing in narrative adventures. The studio hit prominence with The Walking Dead Season 1 in 2012. The studio has since worked on video games based on Batman, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Minecraft. 

In 2017, Telltale Games laid off 90 employees in a restructuring of the company following years of mismanagement. In our report following the layoffs, sources told us that following The Walking Dead Telltale suffered from a constant culture of crunch that pushed employees to release games as quickly as possible. In addition to overbearing management teams that oftentimes meddled in projects, the Telltale Tool proprietary engine was prone to bugs, making development even more difficult. 

Telltale is currently in the middle of The Walking Dead Final Season and have previously announced a second season of The Wolf Among Us and a game based on the Netflix hit series Stranger Things. An anonymous source familiar with the company told USgamer that a skeleton crew will work to finish The Walking Dead Final Season while The Wolf Among Us Season 2 and Stranger Things are effectively cancelled. 

Update: The Verge is reporting that 25 employees will stay on board, presumably as part of the skeleton crew. 

We have reached out to Telltale Games for more information and we will update you as more information becomes available to us. 

To employees affected by the Telltale layoffs there is currently the hashtag #TelltaleJobs trending on Twitter with video game companies offering assistance to affected employees.

 

 

[satyanash 14485]

Fuuuuck. Was looking forward to The Wolf Among Us 2 😞

[satyanash 14485]

 

[hornfan785 556]

Yeah, I was really looking forward to that too.

[satyanash 14485]

The Walking Dead's final season is cancelled as well. Apparently the skeleton crew will only remain to fulfill Telltale's obligations to Netflix.

No ending for Clementine...

 

[HornsOverIthaca 2333]

Well that sucks.  I had no idea they were so screwed up.

[satyanash 14485]

8 hours ago, HornsOverIthaca said:

Well that sucks.  I had no idea they were so screwed up.

There was an article on it back in March: https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/20/17130056/telltale-games-developer-layoffs-toxic-video-game-industry

Basically, they bit off way more than they could chew. Their financial management was terrible and their work environment turned toxic after TWD Season 1's surprise success.

[satyanash 14485]

BTW, the complete soundtracks for all of Telltale's games can be found at http://www.jaredemersonjohnson.com/projects-main/

Just if anyone's curious, because the music is one of my favourite things from the games. Jared Emerson-Johnson is (was) the composer for all of Telltale's stuff.

[Zavala 1384]

I'm sure nobody saw this coming

[bernorange 8361]

Well that sucks.  I really enjoyed the Tales from the Borderlands and GotG titles. 

[atomheartbevo 89668]

Having worked in the VG industry, and having a shitload of friends who do/did, it always amazes me at how many companies repeat the same fucking mistakes that so many others have in the past.  Very public mistakes, whether it's overextending or not putting a bunch of money away when the money is rolling in or whatever.

[BNB 100]

I saw a blurb on my google feed that Netflix is taking over the Stranger Things.  I enjoy the games.

[satyanash 14485]

https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/4/17934166/telltale-games-studio-closed-layoffs-end-the-walking-dead

Pretty sobering how quickly it happened. Telltale ran out of money super fast.

[satyanash 14485]

Looks like Skybound has entered into an agreement with Telltale to finish TWD: The Final Season

 

[hornfan785 556]

Looks like we'll actually get Wolf Among Us 2!