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Telltale Games Sees Massive Layoffs And Is Closing Soon
News reported by 
Stephen B
Editor
September 22, 2018, 05:25:10
 
Sad news hit earlier today. Telltale Games announced via Twitter that they will be closing their doors after their final contracts are resolved. Until then, all but 25 key personnel were laid off today. What is surely a disappointment to the developers, was definitely a disappointment to the fans. Lately major sequels had been planned. The Wolf Among Us 2 was one of the most sought out. While early reports were unclear, it seems the 'contract' being mentioned is the Minecraft Story Mode for Netflix. All signs point to next week's Episode 2 being the final. This means it's very likely we will never see the last two episodes of The Walking Dead and thus will never learn the final fate of Clementine and the other characters.

Personally that last point hits me very hard. The first season was a special milestone in gaming for me, and it's so sad to hear the tale will be truncated. Of course, the disappointment is nothing compared to the shock of losing your job at a beloved company.

Source: Telltale Twitter

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Posted: 09/22/18, 05:25:10  - Edited by 
Andrew N
  on: 09/22/18, 15:52:49    
 
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I see HoH posted this earlier in the Daily Chat thread. Some of you might be aware of the sad news already.

Hero_Of_Hyrule said:
Apparently, Telltale games is shutting down. Hope everyone involved lands on their feet.

This is pretty shocking to me. I had no idea they were in financial trouble, if for any reason due to the sheer avalanche of games they were pumping out non-stop. Aside from people losing their jobs, it's also a big bummer artistically. Say what you want about their decline in quality, but I thoroughly enjoyed their take on Guardians of the Galaxy. It's a shame we won't see a follow up to that, or my beloved Wolf Among us. At least the latter had a fantastic ending that didn't really need a sequel.


Posted by 
DrFinkelstein
  on: 09/22/18, 05:29:03
I was with them since they released Sam and Max season 1. Each subsequent game in the franchise brought me major hype.
Their take on Monkey Island was excellent, and they even dared to (wonderfully) tackle Homestar Runner as a game.

I have loads of their physical special edition games, and even enjoyed Jurassic Park for what it was.

That said, I was always a liiiiiiittle jaded that they seemed to have given up on their smaller, puzzle-focused IPs once they struck it big with The Walking Dead season 1.
THAT SAID, man, The Walking Dead season 1 was something special.

Sad news.


Posted by 
ploot
  on: 09/22/18, 06:47:00
Wow, that is a bummer. I thought they were doing pretty well!

There really is no place for adventure games in this industry anymore, I suppose. Hope they all land on their feet at new studios.


Posted by 
Hinph
  on: 09/22/18, 07:12:40
I would have thought they were doing great but then again I know they were making a LOT of games and only The Walking Dead seemed to get much of anyone talking about it.

A shame for all of those employees.


Posted by 
Zero
  on: 09/22/18, 15:53:45
This is really sad, for the workers there and for the industry. It's a real bummer that the industry can't seem to support a company dedicated to adventure games.

Then again, there has been stories about mistreatment of employees and bad company culture, and their games have seemed to have strayed from the direction and quality the company was once known for, something the company itself even acknowledged publicly, so maybe this shouldn't come as all that big of a surprise.


Posted by 
r_hjort
  on: 09/22/18, 16:18:19
This is a real shame. Walking Dead S1 was excellent, but I felt like as they took on more and more projects at once, their quality suffered. I have to imagine after TWD blew up, they took on more than they could handle and this ultimately led to their downfall. Still, it seemed like they got this figured out recently and I was looking forward to Stranger Things and the next Wolf Among Us. Sadly, time ran out on them.


Posted by 
TheBigG753
  on: 09/22/18, 18:37:36
This is a shame. Such a great studio. So, what becomes of the properties? Will they have to be delisted from online stores such as the eShop or PSN?


Posted by 
sirmastersephiroth
  on: 09/23/18, 00:10:05
One of the hardest aspects of this news to me is that it isn't really because they made bad games but because management handled the business side so poorly. Sorry to see them close down.

I pray the folks who are suddenly out of their dream job will find something even better going forward.


Posted by 
J.K. Riki
  on: 09/24/18, 16:33:55
They didn't make my kind of games, but people seemed to like them. I never paid much attention to them so I was surprised to hear about this since they seemed to be doing well, but it sounds like there was more to the story than what I saw on the surface. I hope the employees land on their feet.


Posted by 
Mop it up
  on: 09/24/18, 20:08:26


Posted by 
Abdooooo
  on: 09/26/18, 03:29:16
Yeah, really surprising news based on their constant output and the good press they've always received, though part of me always wondered just how many people were actually buying all these point-and-clicks. Sure they're based on huge media properties, but they don't get those licenses for free, and point-and-clicks aren't actually THAT popular, right? Plus, everybody I know who actually bought Telltale games didn't pay more than half price for any of them, often much less.

That's a shame though, TWD Season 1 was really something back in the day. I only played one episode of Game of Thrones, though.


Posted by 
nate38
  on: 09/26/18, 07:51:24  - Edited by 
nate38
  on: 09/26/18, 07:51:54
@Abdooooo

Fired for no reason? I'm pretty sure the company is bankrupt.

Now I agree that they could have been given more warning, totally.


Posted by 
J.K. Riki
  on: 09/26/18, 21:46:19
@J.K. Riki

What's interesting is that they haven't filed for such (to my knowledge).... so why wouldn't they have if they were out of money?


Posted by 
DrFinkelstein
  on: 09/27/18, 01:13:08
DrFinkelstein said:
@J.K. Riki

What's interesting is that they haven't filed for such (to my knowledge).... so why wouldn't they have if they were out of money?

If you’re out of money, you can simply wind down your business. Bankruptcy is for if you’re out of money AND you can’t pay remaining debts. This lawsuit is likely to produce outstanding debts (the pay and benefits owed to the employees) that will drive them into bankruptcy.

Really, the employees’ lawsuit is just to ensure that ownership isn’t pocketing any leftover funds that should have gone to employees and will give the employees’ lawyers and a Federal judge a chance to crack open the company’s books and make sure there wasn’t any funny business. If the company is well and truly broke, it won’t make any difference.


Posted by 
chrisguy
  on: 09/27/18, 04:53:59
@chrisguy

Thanks for the insight. I appreciate it.


Posted by 
DrFinkelstein
  on: 09/27/18, 05:32:44
@DrFinkelstein

I read in at least one article that they did indeed file for bankruptcy. Not sure which it was, or even if it was accurate thanks to our garbage media these days that fact-check basically nothing and are just looking for views, but hey, it was in there! So there you go.

Not that you can't still operate after declaring bankruptcy, depending on the type. But they were supposedly filed.


Posted by 
J.K. Riki
  on: 09/27/18, 17:42:26
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