As reported by Gamasutra, evidently prolific choose-your-own-adventure studio Telltale Games is shutting down. This is backed up by media posts from builders at and near the studio, reminiscent of Outerloop’s Chandana Ekanayake.
The Verge report {that a} skeleton crew of round 25 will stay on the studio, down from round 250. A supply tells USGamer that the studio has filed for chapter, and the upcoming The Wolf Among Us 2 and a Stranger Things journey collection have been cancelled. Telltale Games have launched no official assertion but.
The information comes as a shock, on condition that the second episode of The Walking Dead: The Final Season is because of launch on Tuesday, September 25th. Presumably the small crew left on the studio will probably be guaranteeing their last launch (whether or not one episode or the rest of the season is unknown) goes comparatively easily earlier than the corporate shut their doorways. Telltale have seen some tough instances prior to now 12 months, and laid off 90 staff back in November (roughly 1 / 4 of their quantity), however at this time’s losses appear way more last, and The Verge’s sources say employees had been let go along with no severance.
Telltale virtually invented a brand new style of journey games – half interactive motion pictures, half choose-your-own-adventure. They additionally spearheaded the push for episodic releases way back to the (sadly unfinished) Bone games, primarily based on Jeff Smith’s glorious comedian collection. They even gave us a collection of Wallace And Gromit games (now sadly unavailable). They did Batman, The Wolf Among Us and even Game Of Thrones and Minecraft of all issues. It appears unattainable {that a} studio with so many high-profile games would simply finish like this, however that’s what seems to have occurred.
Judging by current tales, together with a recent deal with Netflix, it appeared that the studio was on the mend, with plans to improve to a brand new game engine after the release of The Walking Dead’s final season. While it appears that there have been some issues effervescent away behind the scenes reminiscent of a former studio CEO suing the company, I by no means would have anticipated a near-complete shutdown like this. I want everybody affected all the perfect, and hope that they’re snapped up by talent-hungry studios as quickly as attainable.
