The lights have lastly gone out at Telltale Games, as its ultimate few workers have now been axed too, as reported by Gamesindustry.biz. Over 90% of the corporate’s workers – round 250 – had been laid off without warning or severance barely two weeks in the past.
A skeleton crew of one other 25 was retained to finish contractually obligated work, which some took to imply the Minecraft: Story Mode adaptation for Netflix. Whether even that may occur is in query – in keeping with now ex-Telltaler Rachel Noel on Twitter, the previous few members have been laid off too, also without severance.
Heeeeyyyy keep in mind how there was going to be a skeleton crew staying on for some time and I used to be a part of it? Nah, jk, all of us simply bought laid off, too.
— Retchel Necronoelicon (@anameformyself) October 4, 2018
From the sounds of Noel’s Tweet there and the shocked reactions, letting the ‘skeleton crew’ go so quickly appears like a shock determination, too. Despite Telltale management’s claim that they hope to complete The Walking Dead: The Final Season, that appears an more and more unlikely (and unpalatable) prospect after right now. Even extra unlikely contemplating that last week, a former Telltale employee filed a class action lawsuit towards the studio, alleging that they’re in violation of California labour legal guidelines, and owe each one of many now 275-ish workers a full two months of again pay.
So far, there’s been no official phrase from Telltale, however after two weeks of this, I’d be shocked if there was. I solely converse for myself right here, however I wouldn’t wish to pay cash for something with the Telltale title on except I knew that cash was going instantly into the pockets of the individuals who made it. There’s nonetheless an outdoor probability of that taking place for some Telltale of us, as according to Kotaku yesterday, nameless sources outlined a plan to have The Walking Dead completed by a third-party studio, who in flip would re-hire a few of Telltale’s expertise.
And on that notice, I simply wish to say due to any former Telltale those who is likely to be studying this. Your games all the time meant lots to me, going way back to the (sadly by no means accomplished) Bone collection that started in 2005. You proved that ‘episodic’ games had been viable, and that journey games didn’t need to be all about fiddly stock interactions and obscure puzzles. Mostly, you gave us plenty of characters that had been straightforward to care about, due to delicate little interactions and remembered detailed. Thanks for the whole lot, Telltale people, and I hope issues work out someway.
