In a shocking development, Telltale Games has undergone massive layoffs, closed its majority studio, and canceled upcoming releases of The Wolf Among Us 2, Stranger Things, and the final season of The Walking Dead, according to USgamer.
Telltale CEO Kevin Bruner confirmed the news on Friday with a blog post that called the layoffs a “closure.” The company also issued an official statement:
Today Telltale Games made the difficult decision to begin a majority studio closure following a year marked by insurmountable challenges. A majority of the company’s employees were dismissed earlier this morning, with a small group of 25 employees staying on to fulfill the company’s obligations to its board and partners. CEO Pete Hawley issued the following statement:
“It’s been an incredibly difficult year for Telltale as we worked to set the company on a new course. Unfortunately, we ran out of time trying to get there. We released some of our best content this year and received a tremendous amount of positive feedback, but ultimately, that did not translate to sales. With a heavy heart, we watch our friends leave today to spread our brand of storytelling across the games industry.”
Telltale will issue further comments regarding its product portfolio in the coming weeks.
What does this all mean? Well, for starters, the planned Stranger Things game has been scrapped, while the final season of the popular The Walking Dead series will end after its second episode when it launches next week.
The aforementioned small group of 25 employees will stay behind to work on the Minecraft Story Mode for Netflix. All other employees were let go in a move large enough to spark the hashtag #TelltaleJobs on Twitter with game companies offering assistance to affected employees.
If you’re posting opportunities, please use #TelltaleJobs
— Emily Grace Buck plz hire TTG devs! #Telltalejobs (@emilybuckshot) September 21, 2018
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.
