Video Game Developer Telltale Games Is Shutting Down; THE WALKING DEAD And STRANGER THINGS Games Cancelled

Video Game Developer Telltale Games Is Shutting Down; THE WALKING DEAD And STRANGER THINGS Games Cancelled

The Walking Dead: The Final Season will reportedly end after episode two as Telltale puts a skeleton crew on Minecraft: Story Mode. Netflix comments on the future of its Stranger Things game.

News
By MattIsForReal - Sep 22, 2018 03:09 AM EST
Filed Under: Video Games
Source: GameFragger
The gaming community was thrown for a loop this week when it was reported that Telltale Games, developers of episodic adventure games like The Walking Dead, Batman: The Enemy Within, Game of Thrones and more, is shutting down. Numerous reports of massive layoffs spread throughout social media before Telltale finally confirmed the reports with a message from CEO Pete Hawley.

While it was initially reported that the 25-person skeleton crew would remain to finish on board to finish The Walking Dead: The Final Season, it appears that has been scrapped as well. According to USGamer's Matt Kim, Telltale has cancelled TWD: The Final Season and will instead remain working on Minecraft: Story Mode for Netflix. Episode two of The Final Season, which is due out next week, will reportedly be the last of the series.

Telltale was also supposed to be working on a new Stranger Things game for Netflix as well, but it seems has been cancelled as well. In a statement provided to Variety, Netflix revealed they are looking for other ways to bring the Stranger Things universe to life in the interactive space.

We are saddened by the news about Telltale Games - they developed many great games in the past and left an indelible mark in the industry. Minecraft: Story Mode is still moving forward as planned. We are in the process of evaluating other options for bringing the Stranger Things universe to life in an interactive medium.


The Walking Dead: The Finale Season - Episode 2 "Suffer the Children" will release on September 25. Obviously, this is incredibly sad news for everyone involved and our hearts go out to all of those affected by the layoffs. 
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MUTO123
MUTO123 - 9/22/2018, 3:07 AM
I heard about this yesterday. This really sucks and I feel sorry for everybody that lost their jobs.
RocknRolla
RocknRolla - 9/22/2018, 8:10 AM
@MUTO123 - people losing their jobs does suck, but these games were shite
Nebula
Nebula - 9/22/2018, 8:25 AM
@MUTO123 -

This does put a smile on my face.
TomSolo
TomSolo - 9/22/2018, 9:48 PM
@Nebula - Wait... The way I am reading this comment, Muto worked for Telltale, lost his job, and you are happy?
Nebula
Nebula - 9/22/2018, 9:51 PM
@TomSolo - Then you need to learn how to read.
TomSolo
TomSolo - 9/22/2018, 10:34 PM
@Nebula - Well, we all have different perspectives. It seemed, from my perspective, that something in the comment sounded off, and I chose to pose a sort of question rather than assume and insult you.

If you want to clarify, cool. If not, cool as well. I wasn't trying to pick a fight or call you out. There is enough of that on this site.
Nebula
Nebula - 9/22/2018, 11:08 PM
@TomSolo - Dude. It's pretty clear. And I'm not picking a fight, it seems that you're choosing to take every single comment in the most pessimistic and sensitive way.

Telltale's staff are completely jobless without even severance. Ubisoft and many other game studios have offered to hire them.
TomSolo
TomSolo - 9/22/2018, 11:25 PM
@Nebula - I apologize if my question was offensive, again, not my intention, which is why I asked first before assuming. There are some folks on here who were not a fan of Muto (I didn't have an opinion either way), so I don't think it was odd of me to ponder the nature of the commment.

I'm not certain how asking 1 question translates into taking every single comment in a sensitive and most pessimistic way. I just asked a question. One question. Again, not picking a fight. I don't believe we've ever had an issue. Hopefully we can keep it that way.

Thank you though for taking the time to clarify.
brahbrah
brahbrah - 9/22/2018, 3:12 AM
Unfortunately it was expected as the quality of their games took a nose dive after TWD1/TWAU.
Kyos
Kyos - 9/22/2018, 3:23 AM
@brahbrah - Didn't feel like it to me. Tales From The Borderlands was among their best work, imo.
DeadWade213
DeadWade213 - 9/22/2018, 3:15 AM
Damn....well uh.....can I get a refund?
Grodd87
Grodd87 - 9/22/2018, 3:16 AM
The quality has dropped a lot but shame they will not finish TWD
MUTO123
MUTO123 - 9/22/2018, 3:16 AM
It's also disappointing that Walking Dead won't get to finish its final season. I haven't actually played the games, but I've been watching Chris Herman from Double Toasted play them on Twitch for the past few weeks, and I've been really getting into the story and the characters, especially Clementine. I was looking forward to seeing how they wrapped it all up and it's unfortunate that they can't now.
Kyos
Kyos - 9/22/2018, 3:20 AM
This is so sad! I know not everyone was fond of their style of games, but I mostly enjoyed them quite a lot. I feel for all the talented folks who are suddenly out of a job. :(

I was especially looking forward to The Wolf Among Us S2, and wanted to catch up on TWD once the current was finished. Didn't hear about them not finishing TWD until right now. That'd be the final bummer in an already shitty situation...
Ronan3Accuser
Ronan3Accuser - 9/22/2018, 3:20 AM
Nebula
Nebula - 9/22/2018, 3:24 AM
MUTO123
MUTO123 - 9/22/2018, 3:27 AM
@Nebula - I’m not crying, there’s just dust in my [frick]ing eyes, OK?!
Nebula
Nebula - 9/22/2018, 3:32 AM
@MUTO123 -
BlackPhillip
BlackPhillip - 9/22/2018, 2:20 PM
@Nebula - Man. That first season of TWD was so great and emotional.
RobertFrownyJr
RobertFrownyJr - 9/22/2018, 3:28 AM
Telltale's employees will remember this
Nebula
Nebula - 9/22/2018, 3:32 AM
@RobertFrownyJr - Too soon.
RobertFrownyJr
RobertFrownyJr - 9/22/2018, 3:36 AM
@Nebula - I am actually really sad about this. I have really fond memories playing the first 2 seasons of The Walking Dead
Nebula
Nebula - 9/22/2018, 3:40 AM
@RobertFrownyJr - Yeah..

It's been on my mind since I found out.
LittleSween
LittleSween - 9/22/2018, 3:32 AM
Seen a lot of the employees venting their well places frustrations on Twitter.
No severance pays, and allegedly, Telltale were continuing to hire up until at least a week ago. It's a terrible shame on the game developers, and looks to be terrible mismanagement by those who have kept their jobs it seems
Subtlespammer24
Subtlespammer24 - 9/22/2018, 11:13 AM
@LittleSween - i love working for companies thatre hiring until they close the doors. :) not!
TheUnworthyThor
TheUnworthyThor - 9/22/2018, 3:36 AM
That sucks, but I guess since I never played any of their games I’m part of the problem.
Asturgis
Asturgis - 9/22/2018, 4:05 AM
@TheUnworthyThor - You're not part of the problem. Management is. They will lay off 250 people, I don't even know how that's possible. CD Projekt made The Witcher 3 with 120 people. A Telltale game does not require 250 employees. It requires a tenth of that. I know kickstarer teams of 30 people who make entire RPGs. I don't know how this happened, but sales aren't the issue here.
Beerus
Beerus - 9/22/2018, 4:29 AM
@Asturgis - I agree, with how formulaic their games were, they most certainly didn't need that many employees. Although, that might also be based on another problem that people are calling out on...

Which is the fact that they were constantly working on (or attaining) new IPS, and not going back to old ones that fans were asking for. I mean, look at how many people were asking for "A Wolf Among Us" sequel (among their other past titles I don't feel like looking up, right now). They just did a GOTG series last year, and were going to work on Stranger Things. Their IP collection was packed, and growing... I shudder to think what acquired IPs they didn't announced/get a chance to make a game for before closing.
TheUnworthyThor
TheUnworthyThor - 9/22/2018, 4:37 AM
@Asturgis - I have no idea how many employees it should take to make any video game, but from what I was reading yesterday besides Walking Dead Season 1 all of their games failed to turn a profit, especially Batman which was a financial disaster. It seems to me of it takes x number of people to maintain this quality and volume but not enough people pay for those games then that’s the obvious way a company will go under. Without being there it’s hard to know if and which resources were mismanaged but I don’t think sales are actually that strong regardless.
RageDriver2401
RageDriver2401 - 9/22/2018, 3:50 AM
That's sad. The Telltale Batman games weren't the most compelling games, but I still enjoyed them. Hopefully their talents find homes at other studios.
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