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Telltale Games to close.
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 8:37 pm
by Tafdolphin
Just breaking now:
Telltale Games, the studio behind games like The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us appears to be closing its doors, according to social media posts from multiple developers previously employed at the company.
Gamasutra has reached out to Telltale Games for more details on the situation, but posts from developers on Twitter and Facebook, both private and public, seem to indicate that the studio is shutting is shutting down or experiencing large-scale layoffs. This story will be updated following the studio's reply.
If you or someone you know has been affected by this closure, you can email Gamasutra to share your story confidentially.
http://gamasutra.com/view/news/327085/R ... g_down.phpIt's been a while since a piece of industry news has genuinely shocked me, but this is huge.
EDIT:
Confirmed. Stranger Things game and Wolf 2 cancelled as Telltale files for bankruptcy.
strawberry floating grim.
https://www.usgamer.net/articles/report ... s-canceledPrevious edits:
twitter.com/Nibellion/status/1043223025733255168
twitter.com/HirunCryer/status/1043223593872707584
Re: Telltale Games to close.
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 8:47 pm
by jawafour
Blimey... this is a bit of a shock. Last I heard, they were gonna be doing fewer projects but of higher quality. I'm assuming that the income figures just haven't been adding up?
Re: Telltale Games to close.
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 8:48 pm
by Victor Mildew
Telltale will remember that.
Re: Telltale Games to close.
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 8:50 pm
by Choclet-Milk
Well, gooseberry fool. There go my hopes for The Wolf Among Us 2.
I'm sure their staff won't have any trouble finding work, Telltale is a pretty big deal to put on your CV. I hope they all get through it ok.
Re: Telltale Games to close.
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 8:54 pm
by Tafdolphin
The former CEO was apparently a turd of the highest order and it looks like his direction led to huge mismanagement of funds.
He's currently (or was) involved in what many saw as a frivolous lawsuit against the company after he was outed:
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/0 ... ale-games/
Re: Telltale Games to close.
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 8:58 pm
by Cuttooth
jawafour wrote:Blimey... this is a bit of a shock. Last I heard, they were gonna be doing fewer projects but of higher quality. I'm assuming that the income figures just haven't been adding up?
By all accounts Telltale has been a terribly managed company for some time. Great shame but I haven't played anything Telltale has made since The Wolf Among Us. How do you screw up where they were from 2012 - 2014 so badly?
Re: Telltale Games to close.
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 9:04 pm
by Johnny Ryall
Wow. I mean I can't remember where I heard it probably on some podcast, but there was something about them trying to spin too many plates and expanding too quickly hurting them.
It might say a lot that nearly all of their releases have been on PS+ / Games With Gold as well?
Re: Telltale Games to close.
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 9:07 pm
by Lagamorph
Whoa, out of nowhere.
I thought they'd have been sitting on quite a lot of cash.
Re: Telltale Games to close.
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 9:13 pm
by Tragic Magic
Ad7 wrote:Telltale will remember that.
This can't go unnoticed.
Re: Telltale Games to close.
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 9:13 pm
by Lex-Man
That's shocking I was just playing the second season of Batman.
Re: Telltale Games to close.
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 9:16 pm
by ITSMILNER
Damn, this is a massive loss for sure! Guess the whole Walking Dead series won’t hit Switch now then either
Re: Telltale Games to close.
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 9:17 pm
by Cuttooth
twitter.com/joeparlock/status/1043223973205630977
twitter.com/joeparlock/status/1043227346692726784
twitter.com/joeparlock/status/1043228474608168961
strawberry floating hell, the staff won't get a redundancy package? 
Re: Telltale Games to close.
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 9:17 pm
by Mafro
Tragic Magic wrote:Ad7 wrote:Telltale will remember that.
This can't go unnoticed.
It can.
Re: Telltale Games to close.
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 9:23 pm
by more heat than light
Jesus. Genuinely shocked by this.
Re: Telltale Games to close.
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 9:23 pm
by Johnny Ryall
Mafro wrote:Tragic Magic wrote:Ad7 wrote:Telltale will remember that.
This can't go unnoticed.
It can.
Yeah guys this is 200 people who have lost their jobs because of mismanagement.
Beyond what that Jurassic park game I don't think anyone really associates the telltale name with poor quality? A bit samey yeah but so is call of duty.
Re: Telltale Games to close.
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 9:25 pm
by KK
As a bizarre coincidence I watched their trailer for Stranded Deep on the PlayStation YT channel last night. It was scheduled for 9th October.
Looked quite interesting: plane crashes and you’re stranded on an island surrounded by water and you’ve got to survive. Basically Castaway.
Re: Telltale Games to close.
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 9:25 pm
by Dual
Making the same game over and over again was probably not a great business model.
Re: Telltale Games to close.
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 9:27 pm
by Floex
I know they’re only game awards but it was a big deal for someone like Telltale to pick something like game of the year. Like many, I thought they were a thriving company considering the IPs they were working with. Terrible, terrible management here.
Ad7 wrote:Telltale will remember that.
Re: Telltale Games to close.
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 9:31 pm
by OldSoulCyborg
KK wrote:As a bizarre coincidence I watched their trailer for Stranded Deep on the PlayStation YT channel last night. It was scheduled for 9th October.
Looked quite interesting: plane crashes and you’re stranded on an island surrounded by water and you’ve got to survive. Basically Castaway.
That was just going to be published by Telltale, I think. Of course the game's developer losing their publishing partner could prove to be a setback.
Re: Telltale Games to close.
Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2018 9:36 pm
by Jazzem
Ahh man
I've never kept up with their games at the rate I wish I did but I generally loved what I played (particularly Walking Dead S1). So much sympathy for those who were let go as well as the skeleton crew left, morale's got to be so low amongst the latter
One thing I always found weird was how little presence they had at times, much of their recent work barely seemed to get much mindshare or marketing. You would've thought them doing a Guardians of the Galaxy series would've been a bigger deal for instance.