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
But I also blame gamers too. Y'all keep paying up the wazoo for EA trash. Shame on you. ;)
edit: What's really sad is that this was only released last month. They apparently gambled on sales just within this month to help them. They were already on their last leg at that point.
variety.com/2018/gaming/news/telltale-minecraft-story-mode-netflix-1202844528/
Companies out there, make more real adventure games not this narrative focused bullshit!
If they went straight to creating their own IP and doing traditional VNs, they might be able to climb back up. But they'd need to release a lot of VNs to keep funding coming in. Doubt their team can manage that feat. Blood is in the water, they'll be looking for new jobs.Basically that turns them into a Kinetic VN. Kinetic VNs do not sell that well. Very rarely are there hits and they have to be super amazing to do it. Most Kinetic VNs go for free. Telltale got lazy on routing and it cost them.
Because it followed outside the main storyline, I also fairly enjoyed Game of Thrones game they did. It played out in the same manner as the series of books did. Oh well.
This has nothing to do with EA trash. There are dozens of smaller studios that can survive just fine - and not with a constant stream of released products like TellTale does. They were just managed very badly. Is it up to us to pay that bill?
But I agree that they tried too much. I said that earlier as well.
The comment about EA had a wink behind it. I'm just busting people's chops.. it's sad who ends up being the most successful in this industry. Some of that responsibility falls on gamers.
Its worth noting that CDPR is another such company that has elevated crunch time to 'standard operating procedure'. You should watch some interviews with ex CDPR devs about TW3... Its only their success that keeps the whole thing afloat because they can keep hiring replacements.